Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of rural crime in my constituency of Tipperary. Unfortunately, rural crime is starting to increase. There have been a number of highly publicised incidents in the southern part of my constituency. The weekend before last, a constituent of mine noticed suspicious behaviour in her area and rang a Garda station that is supposed to be manned 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, her phone calls were not answered. We have no chief superintendent in our county. For a county the size of Tipperary not to have a chief superintendent is absolutely ridiculous. We are now seeing the impact of the lack of resources because we do not have someone to voice our concerns to the Garda Commissioner. We are most definitely feeling the impact of the lack of a chief superintendent in our county. I urge the Taoiseach to talk to the Commissioner and to ask him to revisit the decision to take a chief superintendent out of our county. We have a very large county that runs all the way from Lorrha to Carrick-on-Suir. The lack of a chief superintendent is highlighting itself in the context of the scarcity of Garda resources in our county.

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