Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise with the Taoiseach the lack of gardaí in rural areas right across my constituency of Meath West. We have ten Garda stations located in Navan, Trim, Athboy, Enfield, Ballivor, Longwood, Oldcastle, Summerhill, Castlepollard and Delvin. Of those, only two are manned on a full-time basis. In 2013, the Fine Gael Government closed 95 Garda stations in rural Ireland. Those that were left are manned on a part-time basis. Antisocial behaviour, robberies and openly visible drug dealing on our streets are happening every day. The people I represent figure that the Garda Síochána has given up on small-time drug dealing because it does not have the resources to devote to combating the problem. It is disheartening to hear from gardaí based in rural stations that new recruits are being disproportionately assigned to larger towns, which means that rural Ireland is being neglected and forgotten. What is the Government going to do about this matter?

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