Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill and commend the Minister of State on his work on it to date. It is a key plank in the programme for Government.

For the public looking on, one key point that jumps out is that the Bill embeds a key principle from the commission's report. This is that preventing crime and harm and making our communities safe does not rest with An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice alone. It must be most effectively achieved through a whole-of-government response with Departments and agencies such as health, social services, education authorities, local authorities, the Garda and the wider community all working together to prioritise and support the overall objective of safer communities. This is commendable and laudable.

Everybody in the House is equally frustrated when we table parliamentary questions on Garda matters and we get the standard stock response that the Department has no role or input into Garda operational policy and that it is a matter for the Garda Commissioner. It might be optimistic to think that something such as this would change in the context of the Bill. If we are clear about the transparency of what we are trying to achieve in a modern approach to policing we need much better interaction and engagement from the Garda Commissioner and Garda authorities. We also need to see a more holistic and inclusive approach from them in terms of their management.

Everybody in the House will use this debate as a backdrop to point to the chronic situation regarding morale in the Garda throughout the country. It is no different in County Longford, where gardaí are struggling with a spate of inter-family feuds. They are doing their absolute best but they are dealing with this in the face of a societal breakdown, rampant drug abuse and public acceptance of drug taking. It is a real struggle. I have never heard so many gardaí say that they want to exit the force. Anecdotally, I hear from gardaí who say that they and their colleagues are looking to take up jobs in the Prison Service. That is unprecedented.

I welcome the fact that two new gardaí have been appointed in Longford. This is to be welcomed. We have also seen the drugs unit replenished in recent weeks. We were down to two members, a sergeant and a garda, but this has been boosted to five. All of this is welcome. Fundamentally, we must acknowledge that there is a problem in the Garda at present. Morale is on the floor. As laudable and commendable as the Bill is, we need to do something not only for the gardaí but for our soldiers and many of our other front-line workers who have felt the pain and strain of recent years. They have very much taken it in the face. They have taken a lot of public anger and disquiet. In many cases, there has been societal breakdown. We need to respond to this and stand shoulder to shoulder with these stellar servants of the State.

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