Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the role of the Garda in the community call initiative. A huge amount of unseen work has been done on that and some good relationships have been built up through that initiative that should be encouraged to continue after the Covid-19 pandemic is over, and we hope that will be sooner rather than later. For some areas, it has been novel to see the kind of visibility of gardaí that there has been in recent times. This issue came up strongly in the general election. The lack of matching resources, including Garda resources, for housing developments has been a bone of contention for some considerable years.

The new policing plan is called Keeping People Safe. This plan has created new divisions and the model is based on community policing. That cannot be done without resources. For example, counties such as Kildare and Meath have had extraordinary levels of population growth. Meath has the lowest ratio of gardaí to population of any county. It only recently replaced Kildare in that bracket, which has the second lowest ratio of gardaí to population. While that is not the only metric one would use, it is an important one in terms of the distribution of resources. It is difficult to see how counties that need to catch up to a particular level will do so without a proactive approach and a deliberate strategy to achieve that aim. It was disappointing when the new divisions were announced. The announcement was made for counties Laois, Offaly and Kildare, but Kildare, with a population of 220,000, was not selected as the location for the new division. Laois and Portlaoise was the area selected. There is a feeling that what is out of sight is out of mind and that new resources will go to the new divisions.

The same thing happened in Meath with the selection of Mullingar as opposed to Navan for a new division. Again, the same disparity of population pertains in that instance. There are long distances between the main population centres and the areas the new divisions have been chosen for. It is important that there is a commitment to bring the resources up to an acceptable level because otherwise we will see a post-Covid-19 reaction to the lack of visibility.

I want to raise the issue of direct provision with the Minister. I listened to the Taoiseach this afternoon when he described some direct provision centres as being substandard. Will the Minister give us an indication of how many of those locations he regards as being substandard? I share the views that many Members of this House make about the system needing to be dispensed with and a more humane system being put in place. In the meantime, things can be done immediately. Will the Minister address the issue of how many direct provision centres would be deemed to be substandard? Where are those centres located? Would Miltown Malbay be included as one of those centres? I suspect that it is.

I refer to the emergency powers provided for in the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020 that was enacted in this House by all sides.

One of the areas of great concern was when those powers would end. I think there is a date in July when there will be a review. The concern was that once implemented, the powers might not be fully rolled back. I acknowledge that the Garda has handled this very sensitively, but at the same time we need to know how these powers will cease to be implemented as the roadmap is rolled out. The Minister might address that concern. I know this will come up for review. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties, for example, has called for a cessation of the Garda powers. Many of us are very uncomfortable with the powers, despite the fact that they have been sensitively handled by the Garda.

I too express solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. The United States has become a powder keg, and it is difficult to see the tensions, which are not coming out of nowhere. The situation really makes us look at ourselves and how we handle things. We have to be particularly sensitive to people in direct provision and other vulnerable groups.

I have asked a couple of questions. I ask the Minister to respond to them.

See this speech in context