David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. Unfortunately, the increase that he spoke about has simply not been enough. Senior gardaí in the affected communities have said that. We have heard them say it in Drogheda, Dundalk, Dublin and rural parts of Ireland where they simply do not have the required resources. In 2009, we had 14,547 gardaí. We now have 14,160, which is 387 fewer and the population has increased. The Taoiseach referred to the number of Garda recruits. That number was meant to be 800 but a decision was made to reduce it to 600. Can the Taoiseach stand over that decision given what has happened? He acknowledged these are very serious crimes which are having a big impact on the affected communities. How can he stand over reducing the number of new recruits from 800 to 600?

Can the Taoiseach give a commitment that the drug task forces, whose funding have been decimated year on year since 2009, will have their funding restored to 2009 levels? That is a clear challenge I put to the Taoiseach. I and the people living in these communities want to hear a clear response to that from the Government. If the Taoiseach increased the number of new recruits from 600 to 800 and ensured the number of gardaí was restored to at least the number we had ten years ago and funding to the drug taskforces was also restored, people would see more of an effort was being made by the Government. However, the Government is falling short and that is having an impact in all those communities.

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