Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that much is being done, but the issue is that people's experience when an incident happens can often be quite negative and they do not feel that there is fast enough a response. They do not feel that the protection is there in their community for them. Going back to examples in rural Ireland, I have had cases in which people have told me they have rung the Garda where they have come home and discovered their house burgled and it has been hours before anybody arrived because the Garda was so busy, there were only three patrol cars in the area, all of them were away somewhere else and it took time to get those issues dealt with. At weekends, in some of our provincial towns, where we are reopening up the economy, including the night-time economy, there are stresses and serious pressure on the Garda to be there to provide an adequate service for everyone across the community.

The real issue of my question is adequate resourcing. Adequate resourcing is not just the number of gardaí; it is the equipment they have and their ability to respond quickly and to ensure they do a job that reassures people that we are going to get the delivery of a proper justice system.

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