Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I record my gratitude to the Chairman, Deputy Ó Caoláin, and the committee for bringing forward a very insightful report and a set of recommendations that I feel are based on common sense, are very pragmatic and should be easily implementable. Arising from those recommendations, I acknowledge the contribution the Police Service of Northern Ireland made to the committee in respect of some of the initiatives in which it is involved, particularly in respect of the use of social media. There are approximately 900,000 followers of the PSNI and it is used as a very good mechanism for communication. Given the times we live in, and notwithstanding the good work of Muintir na Tíre, which is also acknowledged in the report - the text message alerts are very useful and should be retained and resourced - there are also the other forms of social media that present an opportunity for gardaí and the population to engage in a proactive and preventative way where incidents occur.

I was struck today by the intervention of the representative of the Garda Representative Association on "Morning Ireland" in respect of issues in Longford. He mentioned that the force there was operating on a fire brigade basis, which is how he put it. The import was that gardaí are reacting and that they are providing all-to-call service. If nothing else, this report and its recommendations seek to move us away from that towards a more reflective type of policing mechanism, where gardaí are on the ground, gathering intelligence on a day-to-day basis, and they can engage with people actively in a way that prevents crime from happening. If we can take the recommendations in this report and inculcate them into the policing model that is evolving, and let us acknowledge how it is evolving, and if we can achieve that in a pragmatic and sensible way, we could do a lot to prevent what is happening in the towns and cities of the State, and prevent a lot of crime.

We acknowledge there are increasing resources and the magic number is 15,000, if I am not mistaken. However, while seeking to reach that point, we have to try to prevent incidents such as those that are happening in Longford and other parts of the State. If the local GRA representatives are saying we are operating fire brigade service where we are reacting to incidents and it is very hard to keep on top of that because there is a lack of resources and a need for a stronger Garda presence, then we need to look carefully at what is being said and react positively to it.

I welcome what is a very progressive report. The proposals and recommendations in regard to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 warrant further investigation and attention. The report states: "The Committee believes that, whilst some collaboration does exist between An Garda Síochána and other organisations to provide community-based services in Ireland, much more needs to be done to implement a properly structured and effective multi-agency model." It also states:

The Crime and Disorder Act (1998) defines the core group of agencies involved in these partnerships, as well as their functions and role at the local level. The Committee recommends that serious consideration be given to introducing similar legislation in Ireland.

There is a lot of common sense in that. It could be that this thinking is already taking place within the Department and with the Garda Commissioner. If that is put on some sort of a statutory footing and formalised, it would have a massive impact in terms of how policing is done on this island.

I welcome the report, which is a very good template to work from. The Minister has welcomed the report. I congratulate the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality, in particular its Chairman, Deputy Ó Caoláin, for a very positive intervention.

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