Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask about the reintroduction of the unworkable Garda rosters on 6 November. The Minister will have listened to "Morning Ireland" and read reports from RTÉ today that found a leaked confidential document from 2019 highlighted the roster "does not provide sufficient resources" to police the country and is not fit for purpose. It did not need to be leaked, nor was it confidential. The same findings were presented in the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland published in 2018. The Westmanstown roster results in an immediate 20% reduction in resources per Garda unit, which the report states leads to "ineffective supervision and management of overlapping shifts which occur at inopportune times". It results in the downgrading of crime prevention in Dublin city, which we cannot have at this point.

A vote of no confidence by the Garda Representative Association was passed by 98.7% precisely on this very issue. Never has it been so obvious that the Garda is underresourced, yet it seems the Commissioner is planning to scale down operations even further. I appreciate the Minister is about to tell me the Commissioner will meet representatives of the GRA tomorrow, but a bad plan is a bad plan and there has be to space for Government intervention here. I cannot go to my constituents and say there will be a further diminishing of policing on their streets. This requires Government intervention. We cannot see the reintroduction of that roster; it is unworkable.

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