Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the new Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, on their appointments, and I look forward to working closely with them in the coming months and, hopefully, years as we move through this process, out of Covid and into a more normal arrangement. The Estimates this year are governed by what happened in previous months with regard to Covid and the crisis that we have come through. The Garda numbers are interesting. The Minister says there are 14,700, with just over 3,000 civilian personnel. I know there was a target of having 4,000 civilian personnel working in the Garda by 2021, and I hope we will see how many front-line gardaí are able to get back out on the beat as a consequence of having the additional civilian personnel taking on those roles, and how much more of that is envisaged.

The capital costs are always contentious. I know there have been restrictions this year with regard to getting a lot of work done because of Covid. I am disappointed to see that provision was made through a public private partnership for the provision of Garda stations in Sligo, Macroom and a number of areas, and the station in Sligo has now been removed. I appeal to the Minister to re-examine it because the Garda station in Sligo is unfit for purpose. It is higgledy-piggledy and all over the place, with several buildings joined together with corridors. It is overcrowded. It simply does not work. That is the case in many areas around the country. For instance, the Garda station in Tallaght is also overcrowded. There was political talk at different times but nothing was ever put on paper, nor was a firm commitment made to provide a new Garda station in west Tallaght. It is the same in many areas around the country where we have a real need to provide new services and facilities to make the gardaí more efficient and effective.

The forensic science laboratory was mentioned and I know that some work has been taking place on that. We see it continue every year. We need to know at what point that project will come to fruition or be finished.

A number of inquiries have to be set up. The previous Government give commitments to do so, particularly to set up an inquiry into the case of Shane O'Farrell. I appeal to the Minister again to make provision in the budget to put that inquiry in place and ensure it is a public and independent inquiry into what happened. I know family have been grieving as a result of what happened to their son and brother. The Stardust inquest is another that has been promised for a long time but has not as of yet come to fruition. These are vital steps which must be taken as quickly as possible.

The Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, was mentioned and the additional resources put in place for it. I congratulate CAB in the work it has done. In many cases, it is very effective at tackling the criminal drug gangs that blight so many communities. In the last few days, the Central Statistics Office published a crime victimisation survey. It found that half of respondents did not trust the justice system. That is particularly the case with older people and people in what would be considered more deprived communities, which are the communities in which these gangs operate. There needs to be a greater effort and emphasis on ensuring we deliver for people in those areas.

With regard to Covid-19, the Minister mentioned a figure of €13 million for PPE. Many people watching the television news every evening will have seen gardaí at checkpoints not wearing any PPE, whereas they saw police services across Europe and elsewhere using PPE. That annoyed many people. A constituent contacted my office just yesterday to complain about being stopped at a checkpoint where the gardaí were not wearing PPE. This issue needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

The issue with drugs is the big concern. There was a report this week about the use of crack cocaine. Cocaine addiction in the community is something we need to tackle. I know it is not simply a justice issue and spans many areas, but justice should be a primary part of it. This is an industry driven by substantial profits for a small minority of people who terrorise communities in this city and in other urban areas around the country. It has stretched into every town across the length and breadth of the country. While from the point of view of finances for our security services and such there is never enough, every effort has to be made to ensure the Government demonstrates that it will keep people safe, deliver for communities and keep people first.

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