Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin welcomes any change which will ensure clear and effective oversight and accountability of An Garda Síochána. In particular, we welcome the restructuring of GSOC to an office of the police ombudsman. The complaints system has long needed reform, but the proof will be in the implementation of these changes. GSOC is understaffed and does not always enjoy the co-operation of An Garda Síochána as it is currently constituted.

An updating and streamlining of the existing system for the handling of allegations of wrongdoing concerning members of An Garda Síochána is welcome, including the extension of all of this to Garda personnel.

A number of speakers referred to the incidents that happened in Ballyfermot. I am from Ballyfermot and that is not the Ballyfermot or the people I know. That is not my relatives, not my aunt, not my uncle, not my cousins, and not the people I know who live there. The vast majority of people in Ballyfermot have no time for this but there is a need to look to areas where there has been consistent underfunding, consistent deprivation where communities feel they are being left behind, and every time they open the paper they only ever see something negative about them and about their community. That is not reflective of the people of Ballyfermot. That is not who they are. They do not want this. What they do want is more gardaí. It is the same in my own area. More gardaí are desperately needed.

In 2009, the Dublin metropolitan area north Garda division, which includes Balbriggan, Swords, Malahide, Lusk, Rush, Skerries, and a number of other areas, had 832 gardaí. According to a reply to a parliamentary question I asked last week, there are only 767 gardaí currently in the division. That is 65 fewer gardaí in the division since 2009. All the while, the population has grown by close to 100,000 in those 16 years. It will not be lost on people that when the population grows, they will get more Deputies. The likelihood is that we are going to have more Deputies in my area. With the greatest of respect to all Members present, myself included, I respectfully suggest that my constituents would rather see more gardaí than more politicians in their area. Yet, while the number of Deputies is going in one direction, the number of gardaí is going in the opposite direction, which is worrying.

There is only one superintendent covering a massive area. The position is based in Balbriggan and we are lucky to have him. He does a fantastic job but he is stretched to his absolute limit. Swords only has one inspector, according data I received in response to a parliamentary question, despite the town having a population of more than 40,000 people.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, will be aware that there is a big difference between being safe and feeling safe. At the moment, the people of north County Dublin tell me they do not feel safe. With the low numbers of gardaí, I cannot doubt their feelings on this. None of these problems are due to the gardaí themselves in the Dublin metropolitan area division; they are due to Government decisions and the inability to recruit and retain the numbers of gardaí needed throughout the State. Gardaí are, as we know, working incredibly hard and are doing their best. It is not lost on me that I now see members of An Garda Síochána in housing distress in my clinics in my offices in Swords and in Balbriggan. When I do my constituency clinics, I see members of An Garda Síochána in insecure accommodation with wages that cannot match the rents being demanded in north county Dublin. It is simply unacceptable.

In the few minutes remaining, I want to share with the Minister an email sent to me by one of my constituents who is a civilian Garda employee:

I enjoy the important role I play in ensuring that our local communities are kept safe and accessible for the public. However, the proposed changes to my terms and conditions, which would come as part of this Bill, are unacceptable to me and to my colleagues, specifically relating to the proposed change of civil service status to that of public servant. The justification given from the Minister is that this will unify the Garda workforce. This view, however, does not align with those of my colleagues and I. Additionally, our trade union Fórsa has undertaken widespread consultation, which shows that the overwhelming majority of Garda civilians do not want this or understand the need for this change to occur. It is worrying that my Civil Service status, along with the terms and conditions and protections that are associated with that, can be changed by legislation, without agreement or negotiation with the relevant trade union. Our union has strongly communicated through the industrial relations forums that this change is unacceptable and inexplicable. Unfortunately, however, my employer will not listen to our union on this. Because of this, I have been forced to approach my local TD.

Everybody knows that things have to change. The world of work changes for people all of the time. At the heart of that and central to it is negotiation, consultation and agreement. They cannot understand why this has been completely bypassed and why they are being told that their terms and conditions are going to be changed by virtue of legislation being brought in. There is widespread confusion. There is no understanding as to why this is necessary. There is no understanding as to how they are going to continue to be protected. If we consider the numbers that have applied for mobility - and they have closed what was known as "mobility" within the Civil Service for this particular group of workers - we see that it is panic. One can close off the mobility and one can say that they cannot go anywhere, and that is fine, but the fact that they are applying shows that they are gravely concerned.

See this speech in context