Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Let us go back to where this all started. The confidence the Minister expressed in the Commissioner may be somewhat misguided but that will be determined by her. Go back to 2018. The Commissioner, Drew Harris, decided he did not need 800 recruits a year. He said he would do with 600, going against what was Government policy and the Department. It was endorsed and signed off by the then Minister, Deputy Flanagan. We now see, five years later, how we are paying the price for that. Strike one: we do not need 800 new gardaí. This time last year, Drew Harris said we could not reintroduce the old working time roster, namely, the Westmanstown roster, because we did not have the resources. It just was not possible. Did the Minister, Deputy McEntee, as line Minister tell him he should retract that and pursue re-implementation of that roster over and above the Covid roster? Something changed and nobody is stupid. Somebody needs to explain what changed his mind. The Taoiseach came in here and told us there is funding for 1,000 gardaí but saying that does not mean we are going to get them. Every year, we see budgets delivered as spin but we never get the delivery of things like homecare support packages. That is something with millions of euro thrown at it and no personnel to deliver it. We are now seeing the same thing in An Garda Síochána. The Minister is here trying to tell us that community policing is the way forward. I live in a constituency where we have pulled gardaí from community policing in preparation for the introduction of the old roster on 6 November and the Minister is trying to tell me that is not happening. Her colleague, Senator Ward, tried to tell me that on Virgin Media television last night and that my figures were incorrect. My figures match the Minister’s today but when researching figures, I got dizzy yesterday seeing who was saying what. The Taoiseach gives one figure, the Tánaiste another. The Minister, who is line Minister, says one thing but the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne says another. We have no idea of how many gardaí but between the Taoiseach’s statement in November and the Minister’s statement in May, according to the Official Report, we have lost 256 gardaí somewhere in the system. Between retirees and the loss of those gardaí, we will have no new recruits. We will have trained 633 by Christmas but there will be no additional members. They will just replace those who are leaving, suspended and those retiring. That is not trust and confidence for the public to go forward.

The gun has been put on the table by the current Commissioner. The Minister is his boss. She should not try to tell the public that this is an arms-length issue and she has no part to play.

As a matter of fact, this is probably going to be the most serious decision of the Minister's career and the guns need to be taken off the table. If the Minister is so confident that talks will take place tomorrow with those guns on the table put there by Drew Harris - he is a CEO, in effect. He is paid in excess of €270,000 per annum. In 2018 when he wanted to save money by cutting down the number of gardaí, he should have started with that salary. It is far too much money for someone who seems to be so inept. Three strikes, he should be out. He is on his third and the Minister is the boss. I do not know when she is going to make the decision but in the whole of my constituency of Wexford, from Gorey to Rosslare, New Ross, Enniscorthy and Wexford, people are very unhappy with the situation. They are very unhappy with what they perceive to be the lack of policing in the community. I can assure the Minister that we are fourth from the bottom when it comes to the number of police we have in Wexford. We have the most successful port in the country post Brexit and we have been given no resources. That rests with the Minister and the Department of Justice.

We have 174 recruits to come out of Templemore and for all of the Minister's talk this morning in her speech, none of them is aware where they are going to be stationed in the middle of the worst housing crisis this country has ever seen. The force has had over nine months to prepare, to tell them where they can go and where they might get rental accommodation. Is it any wonder people will not join the Garda? Sort it out.

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