Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I join the Minister in commending the work of An Garda Síochána throughout Covid, in Swords and across the State. She is bang on; its members did a fantastic job.

I want to return to the issue. There is a difference, and Minister and I both know this, between being safe and feeling safe. I do not want anyone to panic but people do not feel safe and that is a concern to me, because obviously I am sent in here to represent them. There are two cars.

It is not sufficient that an area the size of Swords, that has housing estates stretching for miles all the way out to Donabate and surrounding areas, would have only two Garda cars available. While 83 gardaí might sound like a big number, at any given time, gardaí will have to be in court, on community duties, on sick leave, on annual leave etc. There are, therefore, not enough gardaí to meet the population need.

I emphasise to the Minister that we need a task force approach for Swords and its surrounding area, particularly given the planned expansion of Donabate. That will place even more demands onto the already stretched gardaí. All we want is a collaborative approach between local representatives, the community, the residents associations, An Garda Síochána, and the local authority, with them all pulling in the one direction. We were promised this at the joint policing committees, JPC. For some reason it has been kicked to touch. I would like the Minister to investigate that and find out what is happening with it. The willingness is certainly there from the gardaí, the local representatives, the residents associations and the community. We all want the same thing. We want not just to feel safe but to be safe. Visible policing is essential in that regard.

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