Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In response to the Deputy's last comment, I think that, more in the past two years, people have seen just how proactive An Garda Síochána is, including in responding to emergencies and crimes as they occur and in the proactivity with which it has responded through Covid-19, reaching out to communities and looking at domestic violence. It is a fact that An Garda Síochána actively went back to people who had been victims previously to make sure they were okay. It is very clear that the work the Garda does is not just responsive but proactive engagement.

I wish to reassure everybody that if they call 999 they will get a response. Issues arose that have clearly been highlighted in recent reports, and structures are being put in place to make sure that incidents involving callbacks and so on that occurred do not happen again.

To comment on the focus on towns and our city centres, Dublin alone, through Operation Citizen, has seen an increase of 500 garda hours per week on top of the gardaí who were already patrolling the streets at the weekend. We have more than 100 gardaí patrolling in that regard, and that is directly in response to concerns people have raised during Covid-19, when there were fewer people on the streets, people were more visible and assaults and other incidents may have been happening. In response to that, the Garda has responded very well. Of course, there will always be issues that arise but, in general, people need to have confidence in the Garda, and I genuinely believe they do.

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