Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response and welcome that extra resources have been allocated to An Garda Síochána. However, the issue is the deployment of those resources because, unfortunately, it does not appear that we are seeing a greater number of gardaí on the streets in the inner city. That is the solution to this. How many gardaí are doing roads policing at night time as opposed to patrolling the inner city? Obviously, we need roads policing but we primarily need more gardaí patrolling the inner city.

I have recently seen a solution to this. For the past number of months, the people of Creighton Street and City Quay in my constituency have been subjected to unprovoked violence by rival gangs of youths on the pedestrian bridge over the River Liffey. They were exposed to this level of violence throughout the day. The local committee met with the Garda and there has now been a very positive response from the Garda in Pearse Street by allocating more resources there. Therefore, more resources on the ground can solve this problem or certainly curtail it. I ask the Minister of State to bring that message back to the Minister for Justice.

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