Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The report, which is five years old, was quite unequivocal and stated the absolute priority should be that front-line district police should have the resources to perform their core community safety duties. That was a constant theme in the report. The urgency of the situation has not been addressed. I acknowledge what the Minister has said, but when will the court presenting changes be implemented? Will there be extra staff in State solicitors' offices to perform these duties? When will gardaí be taken from juries?

There are a lot of other ongoing duties currently undertaken by gardaí, and it is fair to say that reforms have been very slow since the report was published five years ago. This is all the more urgent given the crisis of morale in An Garda Síochána. The sense of job satisfaction has plummeted. Gardaí feel very stretched. Anything that can be done to implement the reforms that are gathering dust and get more police back on the street needs to be done urgently at this stage.

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