Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Community safety and crime prevention are major issues in my constituency of Cork North-Central. There are some brilliant and very tight-knit communities in the constituency I represent but, unfortunately, some people no longer feel safe in their homes or walking the streets. This year, there have been horrific attacks and incidents. In January, a man had petrol poured over him and was set alight. Gangs are roaming the streets attacking people and organising fights through social media.

My colleague, Deputy Ó Laoghaire,and I have published a document, A Safer Cork is Possible, and I ask the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, to consider these proposals. She is aware that a visible community Garda presence on the ground acts as a deterrent to criminals and anti-social behaviour. There should be 20 community gardaí and one sergeant on the north side of Cork city and Cork North-Central, but there are only 13 community gardaí and one sergeant. This is a major shortage in my constituency. An announcement was made in April 2019 that Cork city was to receive 20 additional community gardaí. At that time, there were 32 and now we have 36. This is another broken promise by the Government. There have been savage cuts over the years.

I have listened to Government Deputies talk about what should happen. The reason we have crime, gangs and anti-social behaviour now is that for ten years, the Garda was underfunded and under-resourced, communities were underfunded and there were cuts to youth workers, youth community groups and drug task forces. That is the result of all these cuts by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Government Deputies then come in here and cry crocodile tears talking about their constituents when they could have and should have made a difference. They have let their communities down. Sinn Féin will stand up for people. We need to protect people and we need more gardaí on the ground.

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