Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Let me be very clear. I believe we need more gardaí and more Garda staff. I said so last week when I was asked about it and I stand over it. We need more gardaí and more Garda staff, and that is exactly what we are doing. We have authorised the recruitment of 1,000 new gardaí this year. Of course, there will be retirements and resignations, but that will see a net increase in the number of gardaí this year. I am confident that will be the case. We will do the same again next year. We have roughly 14,000 gardaí. It is up a bit on where it was a couple of years ago, but not enough. I want to get us to 15,000 gardaí employed by the State before this Government ends. That is the target and commitment I have given. We intend to do that. We are also hiring hundreds of additional Garda staff every year, which allows gardaí to do more front-line work. I had the opportunity last week to visit Clonmel Garda station and see exactly how that does work in freeing up gardaí to do Garda work by having Garda staff on the front desk. I am pleased that we are going ahead now with the new Garda stations in Clonmel and Macroom. I thank the Ministers, Deputies Harris, Donohue and O'Donovan for making that possible.

All of us in Government take the issue of the safety of our gardaí very seriously. We support their work and we do not believe anyone should be assaulted in the course of his or her work. That applies to people in other professions as well. What are we doing about it? We are increasing the maximum sentence from seven years to 12 years. The Minister, Deputy Harris, received approval from Government for that only this week.

We are also bringing in body-worn cameras, which will also help to protect gardaí.

To frankly answer the Deputy's question about minimum sentences, I do not think generally that minimum sentences are a good idea. I know I am accused of all sorts of ideology and perhaps this is the liberal in me speaking. Minimum sentences tend to backfire. What happens when you have minimum sentences is that people are sometimes detained in prison when they probably should not be and a more appropriate approach might be a suspended sentence, probation or a juvenile liaison programme, for example. In some cases, people are acquitted when they should not be because the judge or the jury think the minimum sentence is too stiff in the circumstances. That is generally why I think minimum sentences can be a bad idea.

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