Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome any Bill that will streamline costs for this State and avoid unnecessary High Court action. Instead, these injury claims will be assessed by the Personal Injury Assessment Board and can be now heard in a separate court or a District Court. Claims that have been paid from 2016 to 2021 amounted to €26.4 million. However, the legal bill was €9.96 million. I understand that in some cases the legal fees exceeded the amount in damages actually awarded.

I am sure that this could not continue. Unquestionably, any gardaí who have been injured in the line of duty would agree that it is not in their best interests to experience extensive delays in settling their claims.

Another important aspect of this Bill is the transparency and standardisation it will bring about for claimants, which is to be welcomed. How many of these injuries were incurred because of the lack of extra personnel and proper equipment, vehicles and stations? This is evident across the country in stations like Croom, Kilmallock and Newcastle West, where we are still waiting on our Garda station. Is there any update on when we will get the Garda station in Newcastle West? The main Garda station in Newcastle West, with over 4,000 people, has been closed and has not been reopened or rebuilt yet. Where is it? When will the Government finally give adequate services to the Garda in County Limerick? When will the Government put people into Garda stations that have to cover a large area in square miles? The Government is doing it by head of population but if a garda is called out to a scene from a Garda station in County Limerick it can take up to 30 minutes to get there, and that is if a Garda vehicle is available. A garda called out to two incidents cannot make two out of himself or herself so we need extra Garda resources in County Limerick because of the amount of square miles that our Garda stations are covering. We need a proper headquarters and I have asked the Minister earlier when we will get this. The Government has money to throw at everything else in this country. It can provide money to developers but it has no money to give to An Garda Síochána, our fire service, our prison officers and all our front-line workers. Again, that is all city-based money that is being provided. What about the protection of the people in rural areas and small towns and villages in County Limerick?

I had an incident two weeks ago - thanks be to God the Passport Office intervened - when a person put their local Garda station on their application and the Passport Office rang the Garda station three times and they could not get through to a garda. Why was that? It was because there was only one garda at that station and he or she had been called out to incidents in the area. We are wondering why we have gardaí who could get injured in the line of duty. It is because they do not have adequate personnel, equipment or cars and that is what we want. When is my headquarters coming and when will we get adequate numbers of gardaí in County Limerick in all its towns and villages? The Government has the buildings and every time I turn around I hear the Government say it is awash with money and all I am hearing is Minister after Minister telling me that his or her Department has loads of money. The Minister for Social Protection and for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, came to Limerick recently and all she kept saying was that they have loads of money in her Department. Why does the Government not have loads of money to invest in An Garda Síochána all around the country, not only in Limerick, and to give adequate services to the people, the taxpayers, the elderly and everyone who has done their bit for this country? When will the Government start investing in that? All the new recruits seem to be put into Dublin and highly populated areas and the Government is leaving the people in the rest of the country vulnerable by not investing. It is all about numbers for the Government and that is all it will look at but a lot of square miles need to be looked at in County Limerick.

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