Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I must echo the Minister of State's sentiments on the unbelievable work that An Garda Síochána has done through the pandemic. However, I come back to the crux of this matter, which is the real shortage of community gardaí in the west Cork division. The number for all of west Cork is four community gardaí and if we go to north Cork, there are seven community gardaí. If we go to Cork city, however, there are 40 community gardaí, so there is a major imbalance.

The Minister of State indicates it is down to the chief superintendent to decide how many community gardaí are in a district but the chief superintendent must pull from front-line resources in order to fill such positions, so this is a resourcing issue. The new model of policing coming down the line will see the west and north areas combined, and north Cork will include east Cork areas such as Youghal and Cobh. There will be a huge area served by 11 community gardaí compared with 40 in the city. It is a major imbalance. There are 310,000 people living in the county and 210,000 people living in the city. That imbalance must be addressed.

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