Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It needs to be acknowledged that the Garda Commissioner does have a budget of more than €2 billion at his disposal now. In addition to that, the 1,200 new trainees and staff members are most welcome and will obviously help to battle crime generally right across the country. On the specific question of car theft, approximately 10,000 vehicles are either stolen or broken into a year. The equivalent estimated figure in the UK is approximately 110,000. Cars being broken into is therefore quite a prevalent problem.

In his response, the Minister of State indicated that there had been a lull during the period of the Covid pandemic and that the figures are now returning to their pre-pandemic levels. It is unfortunate that, despite all of the investment and the record budget of more than €2 billion, we are now returning to those figures. I welcome Operation Joyrider and the "Park Smart" campaign with regard to securing vehicles but I would appreciate it if the Minister of State would give me access to the numbers.

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