Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I assume the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Stanton, is taking this matter. As a Deputy from Cork, he will be familiar with the constituency I represent – Cork South-Central. It is primarily an urban constituency and takes in the south side of Cork city. It includes some large suburbs that are growing rapidly such as Douglas, Carrigaline and Passage West.

The Garda district headquarters is located in Togher. It is the only 24-hour station in the Garda district. When the other Garda stations in the district are closed - that happens to be most of the time - all telephone calls are diverted to Togher Garda station. Stations in the other densely populated parts of the constituency such as Carrigaline and Douglas Garda stations have limited opening hours. They are not always open, even during the designated hours when they are meant to be open. That is because the gardaí who are on duty and meant to be in the station may be called away to an incident elsewhere in the district.

The general public draws confidence from a Garda station being open, ideally on a 24/7 basis. Garda management often tells me that it prefers to use resources for patrolling, rather than having gardaí within a station. I accept that is an operational decision for Garda management. However, I absolutely believe we need longer station opening hours within the Togher district in the main population areas and the suburbs about which I have spoken.

In the area I represent there have been a spate of burglaries. We have had organised gangs roaming through housing estates checking to see if cars are unlocked. If they are, they are stealing whatever they can from them. There has been damage caused to private and public property such as playgrounds in the area. Many people have captured footage on their private closed circuit television systems of people trying to open their vehicles or walking around to the side or the back of homes. A serious assault took place on the main street of Carrigaline last Saturday night and a man was seriously injured. I wish him well in his recovery. Many people have since been in touch to express real concern about the lack of a Garda presence in the area.

Garda management openly tells me that it simply does not have the resources to provide foot patrols. The days of gardaí walking along the streets in my area and perhaps elsewhere throughout the country seem to be gone. In Carrigaline where I live there is one community garda who is visible and out and about a good deal. The other gardaí simply do not have the time or resources to do so. They are stretched to breaking point. This has had a direct impact on morale within the force.

The issue of resources is key. Let us consider Carrigaline as an example. There are five units with two members each. There are three detective gardaí and three sergeants. On any given weekend night one unit of two gardaí may be serving the town. The reality is that they could be called away at any point. Frequently they are called away to another part of the Garda district to deal with an incident. We could as a result actually have no Garda presence within the town. We absolutely need longer station opening hours and more gardaí. People should not have to call to a Garda station on multiple occasions to have a form signed, yet that is the practice in my area which is rapidly expanding and experiencing high population growth.

I understand a new policing divisional model is being prepared. Extra resources have been requested for the area by Garda management. The Minister of State is the person responsible. I call on him to take up the issue with Garda management - the top brass within the Garda - and deliver extra resources to the area.

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