Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. No reform programme on earth will be of any value when there is such low morale in the ranks of An Garda Síochána and such a crisis in public confidence. That is the legacy of Fine Gael. Thirteen years on, people the length and breadth of this State do not feel safe. With the inner city, I do not have time. I could write books on it. There has been an abject failure of policing with no feeling of safety or visibility in the communities. It is a disgrace what has happened in Dublin city. But it is not just that. On my travels into rural communities, villages and towns, to my great alarm I am hearing the same story from people on the ground. What is it? The Government shut down Garda stations. People do not see gardaí out and about in relationship and support with the community and people feel unsafe. The Taoiseach can read out all the lists of legislative changes and all of that but numbers are low; too low for the population. The Taoiseach knows all of this. It is a big fail on the part of the supposed party of law and order. Then there is the dysfunctional relationship between the Commissioner, the members of the Garda and the Minister in the middle of it. It is a mess.

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