Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My colleagues have spoken of An Garda Síochána over the last 100 years and the standard it has set and how we have to show respect for every garda that puts on a uniform every day of the week. They are family people at the end of the day.

The Minister spoke about rapid changes that are happening within the force but there is a problem on the ground. Should the Minister come to my constituency or into any of our towns, there is absolutely no garda visible on the beat. That is the biggest problem, as people ask where are the guards. You could ring the Garda station and be told they will be up in a half an hour because the Garda car has gone out. This is the reality of what is happening on the ground. Rural houses are being robbed and houses in towns are being robbed and there is no consequence, other than for the family owners of the houses. These are people whose houses are invaded in broad daylight. Everybody arrives afterwards and everybody goes away but there are very few prosecutions for that. Among the public there is an issue of confidence about how policing is being done. As a community worker, I would say that the Garda, as an organisation, has let down communities with the community alert. Communities pay for this system, which is supposed to notify them of abnormal activities. The text alerts go out from An Garda Síochána. Changes were made a few years ago and it was supposed to be operating centrally. There is nobody who can be contacted to find out why, in the area I live in, no text alert has come out to us over two years at a time when about 25 houses in the community were robbed. That is a let down for people. We can talk all we like about policies and frameworks or whatever but this is key to what is happening on the ground. This is not to get at the Minister but I am telling her the reality. People say there is no point in ringing the gardaí. They ring me and tell me that something has happened to them and when I ask them whether they have rung the Garda, they tell me there is no point in doing that. That is where we are at. We are at a very low ebb in public confidence in policing. As a Deputy said earlier, we have passed a tipping point. We are going to lose a lot of ground if we do not act immediately.

Look at Galway city where people were out fighting on the streets and it was filmed and put online. People were out with cars trying to knock down other people. It sets a tone that people can do whatever they want whenever they want. People were arrested for it but that is not the point. It is anywhere you go. There was a lot of talk of it happening in Dublin and the Minister provided overtime funding in Dublin. I challenge her to provide overtime to every division to ensure that policing can be done while we are trying to build the numbers.

On recruitment of young gardaí, it is not attractive. Young people can go into a factory and get a good job. They can be educated and progress up through the farm industry a hell of a lot better than if they go into the Garda. That is what is happening. Look at the initial payments they get. Another downside for them is that after a new garda comes out of Templemore, they are invariably sent to Dublin or another place a long way from home. It is very costly and not affordable so they will not do it. I know people who have gone into Templemore and come out and did not go any further. We need to make sure we respect those gardaí we have by giving them all the tools they need.

I cannot get over why people have to retire at 60 years of age. They are a huge asset. If they want to work on until they are 65 years, then we should take their experience as an asset to help police this country. We should not have a cut-off point.

I will leave it there. Other colleagues have to speak. This is not a motion for the sake of it. We need to do something urgently.

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