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

This is a Government that is tough on crime. It is a Government that is building stronger and safer communities. How are we doing it? We are doing it in four ways. We are increasing Garda resources. The Garda budget is €2 billion for this year, which is the highest ever, and it will be higher again for next year. Contrary to what the Deputy said, we recruited between 700 and 800 gardaí this year and, in addition, 400 Garda staff. We will see Garda numbers stabilising this year and rising again next year. They peaked back in 2021, let us not forget, which is not that long ago. We still have more gardaí today than we had five years ago. We are also introducing tougher laws, with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, making provision for stronger and longer sentences for serious crimes against individuals. We are increasing the number of prison places. If we want hardened criminals who are a threat to society to serve their sentences, we need to do the maths and see we need more prison places. The Minister has plans afoot to increase the number of prison places by 600. We are also dealing with the root causes of crime by developing community safety partnerships, which is a major innovation introduced by the Minister and now being piloted in various parts of the country. We want to extend that initiative across the nation.

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