Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to congratulate the Garda on its swift action to prevent rioting and criminal damage in Cork. I do not think there were 100 masked youths on the street. The matter is under investigation, but I do not think that is quite what happened. Certainly, the Garda acted swiftly to prevent any crimes being committed or criminal damage being caused. It is a very good example of policing working in Cork and in Ireland more broadly.

There are now more than 14,000 gardaí. The Government reversed the decision of the previous Government to stop the recruitment of gardaí. We have been recruiting and adding to the Garda force ever since. There must be more than 1,000 members of the Garda based in Cork city and county. Of course, how they are rostered and deployed is a matter for the Garda Commissioner rather than the Government, and that is as it should be.

I respect the fact that the GRA has called for additional Garda resources in Cork but it has also called for extra resources on the Border, in Donegal and in Dublin. That indicates to me that we need more and better-equipped gardaí in all parts of the country, not just in Cork. That is precisely what we are doing. The Garda budget for next year will be nearly €1.9 billion, the biggest Garda budget ever, and will enable us to continue to recruit more gardaí. The reforms being led by the Commissioner include the recruitment of more Garda staff, which will take gardaí out of offices and away from counters and onto streets, into patrol cars and onto bikes in the community, where people wish to see them. That is all under way. The guarantee I can give to people in Cork and all other parts of the country is that they will continue to see an increase in the number of gardaí in communities not just because we are recruiting additional members of the Garda but also because we are equipping them better and reforming the Garda service such that there are fewer chiefs, less management and administration and more gardaí on the beat or in cars, available for the public to see them, which is what the public wants.

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