Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O’Dowd. I am pleased to hear of the increasing garda numbers. As we continue to see more men and women enter Templemore and more gardaí come out, I can assure him the direction of travel will be upwards in terms of Garda resources, with a focus on community gardaí. At the core of all that gardaí do and have done so well is policing by consent and policing in communities, which has been an incredible success for over 100 years.

With regard to Deputy Smith's point, I will certainly follow up on that individual issue that he raises and get him an update, as he asked. I have engaged with the AGSI, the Association of Garda Superintendents and the Garda Representative Association, GRA, and I am in regular contact with the Garda Commissioner. The Department of Justice has its policing legislation coming through this House at the moment and there are opportunities to tease through all of these issues. I genuinely believe, from all of those conversations, that while people have different views, what unites them all is that whatever model it is – and the operating model is the model - it is dependent on resources and dependent on making sure there are enough men and women in An Garda Síochána to roll it out successfully. I believe that as we grow resources, a lot of those concerns can be addressed, but we will continue to engage intensively on that.

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