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

I appreciate that. In the new work environment that is evolving since Covid-19, more and more people are looking for flexible work arrangements. When everyone else in society is getting flexible work arrangements and when gardaí have very rigid ones, it poses a difficulty and a problem.

In respect of that, I want to raise the point that retention and recruitment is also about having enough gardaí in place to be able to serve the public. We see issues here in the city of Dublin, as we have seen in the recent “Prime Time” report on O'Connell Street and that is mirrored many areas around the country where we have serious problems. These are simply down to not having enough gardaí on the beat, walking the streets and being there, with community gardaí to look after people, making sure that they are visible and that they have a place in the community. Really, it is down to numbers. I hope that as we move forward when we talk about new and flexible work arrangements there can also be new and flexible training and recruitment arrangements so that we could increase the numbers that we can bring through Templemore and that we could bring more than the 800 per year that is presently in place. That is something that needs to be looked at seriously. We need to look at ensuring that we can have an adequate Garda service in place as we have growing population.

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