Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I have a natural interest in it because my father was a proud member of An Garda Síochána. Minding the community, young and old, and building up that community was everything to him.

While Sinn Féin is supporting this Bill, the potential dilution of community policing worries me. It worries me particularly because community must be central to how we live, especially as we deal with the impacts and effects of climate change, known and unknown. If the 20th century was the era of the individual, the 21st century must be the era of the collective and of the community. It makes sense for our gardaí to be deeply in and, more importantly, of the communities they serve. People in my constituency of Kildare North, Maynooth, Celbridge, Kilcock and Clane, need to be able to go to their local Garda station and for it to be open to them when they need it. This is not just local politicking. This is where the Garda and communities build up familiarity, trust and a sense of shared responsibility, mutual endeavour, for the public good.

I am equally concerned about the resourcing of An Garda Síochána. In my constituency, Kildare North, local gardaí surpassed themselves in their response to the Covid crisis. I take this opportunity to commend them in the Dáil for their outstanding work during the ongoing pandemic. An Garda Síochána needs to be better resourced, not only in monetary terms, but in terms of the official mass we have on them because mass matters when it comes to our gardaí. Too often it is missing, particularly when one thinks about what we have to deal with now with the rise of the far right who, when they are not spreading disinformation on Covid-19 and causing criminal damage, are ranting racism and homophobia.

On specifics, the duties of some of the ranks of An Garda Síochána will change. As workers, they will have to be properly remunerated in that regard. Equally, there must not be any delays to the legislation, which must be in place for the pilot divisions to begin before year's end. I am glad that Sinn Féin is supporting this Bill. While I do have some concerns about it, I hope they can be ironed out on Committee Stage.

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