Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to put on record my appreciation of the tremendous work done by An Garda Síochána at all levels including gardaí, sergeants, inspectors, superintendents, chief superintendents and commissioners. In modern society they have an extremely difficult job to do and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

This review of reform is welcome and while there are lots of good points in it, I have one major problem with it, which I will elaborate on later. The first thing that struck me when I read the review is that the objective of reform is to significantly increase the number of gardaí on the beat, which is very welcome. I would like to see a serious focus on drugs and the sale of drugs in our society. This Parliament is not focusing enough on this issue, which is the greatest challenge and the greatest scourge facing society. In many cases mental health issues, suicide and financial ruin are predicated on drug use. I watched "Prime Time Investigates" a number of weeks ago wherein drug dealers were filmed selling drugs openly in broad daylight. There was constant business going on in a suburb of Dublin. If the "Prime Time Investigates" team could film that, why were these people not being arrested? Some might say that they were not the big fish or the big players but they were still selling drugs to young people and doing serious damage.

There was a time when drugs were only a problem in large urban areas or in socially deprived areas but that is no longer the case. Drugs are a huge problem in every sector of Irish society, from the wealthiest to the poorest, from large urban centres to small rural settings. Unfortunately drugs have taken a foothold in every part of our society. As parliamentarians, we need to focus on this problem and put more resources into dealing with it. If we do not do so, the consequences for our children and grandchildren will be immense. Unfortunately suicide is becoming a more regular occurrence and while it is not true in all cases, the misuses of illegal substances has a part to play in a large proportion of such deaths.

This reform will result in extra gardaí on the beat and I urge the Minister to use her influence to make sure that some of those resources are used to tackle the drugs issue. I met my own local superintendent about two months ago. He highlighted to me the amount of drugs that were seized in the previous 12 months in his catchment area. I fully accept that good work is being done but unfortunately, an awful lot more needs to be done. I urge the Minister to make it a top priority in her Department to put more resources into tackling drug barons. This is absolutely essential. Whether it is the small dealers or the large operators, there is only one place for them and that is in custody and off our streets.

I wish to raise the issue of the amalgamation of areas.

Some of these probably make sense but I represent a constituency which is a very large geographical county. We have had a chief superintendent based in our county, I would say, since the foundation of An Garda Síochána. That chief superintendent was based in Thurles in the middle of the county. From Carrick-on-Suir to Portumna is a huge area. It had five superintendents operating under the chief superintendent. I cannot for the life of me understand how it will improve the deployment of resources or the efficient policing of Tipperary to amalgamate us with Clare. Geographically we border Clare but it is a nonsensical arrangement. Ennis is now to be the centre for this division. It makes no sense geographically and I am worried my county will lose resources because of it. I was reading a report with the reasons put forward, the number of gardaí in the area, and that it only warrants one division. That does not take away from the fact this is nonsensical. To travel from Carrick-on-Suir to Ennis would be a day's work. It sits very uneasily with the people in my constituency.

I urge that the Garda Commissioner look at the nonsensical geographic imbalance in this. My county is 130 km long from top to bottom. We are not asking too much that it be treated as it always was, as one geographical division with a chief superintendent in the centre in Thurles. I know the decision has been made but I earnestly ask that it would be looked at again, that there would be a common-sense review of that decision, and that Tipperary would be left as the one geographical division it always was.

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