Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

During the summer, when we met with some senior gardaí and there was a big issue with presence of gardaí, not only on the streets of Dublin but around the country, one of the issues the senior gardaí brought up was the absence of these regulations. It is good to hear they will meet this week, but I ask the Minister to push ahead with the regulations as quickly as she possibly can to get more people on the streets. As she said, communities need to feel safe. I have noticed that, with larger events, the public order side of things is definitely improved when people see a large Garda presence on the streets. I agree with the Minister that recruitment is a way to reach out into newer communities. When ordinary gardaí, most importantly, are recruited, more effort should be made to reach into those new communities. It is also an opportunity to reach out to the new communities to get them into the mainstream organisation.

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