Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very conscious of the anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings coming up. I will indeed give consideration to the issues that the Deputy has raised and will seek to be briefed on the matters in advance of the anniversary. I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for raising that.

I am reluctant to comment on the floor of the Dáil on the individual cases Deputy Paul Murphy raised. I will consider both of them and will reply to him in writing when I get an up-to-date position from the Minister for Justice on that.

Deputy Barry spoke about the Anglesey Street office and the permits. Particularly regarding the ongoing debates on migration in this country, his comments about the benefits that many of the people from outside the European Union and the EEA are making to life in Cork city and county are important. I want to be associated with those remarks. He referenced Indian nurses and we see the benefit of migration in all our communities. The point he made about the delays in accessing permits in the Anglesey Street office and the three suggestions he made about staffing, moving it online and appointments at other offices are issues I will discuss with the Minister. We will revert to the Deputy in writing to see if any assistance can be provided.

Deputy Ó Murchú highlighted the range of issues he comes across as a constituency TD in terms of the spectrum of need, some in the criminal justice space, some in the Garda space, but also some in the rehabilitation space and the Tusla space. At the heart of what we want to do with community safety partnerships is to recognise that so that in a county like Louth, we can bring together all the State agencies, local actors and local organisation to ask what we can do in our county. We plan to roll out those community safety partnerships this year.

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan made a very interesting point. I am very conscious of the level of change experienced by rank-and-file members of An Garda Síochána in a short space of time. There have been changes in structure and in law, but also change in some of the realities they face as they go about their duties. Through my Department's role on policing reform, I will certainly raise that with officials to see how we can make the reforms and strategies, which get discussed in offices far from the front line, more real and more accessible to rank and file members of An Garda Síochána.

Deputy McDonald asked about Garda morale. The best way to tackle that issue and support the Garda is to increase the garda numbers. I know she will agree with that point. We all want to increase garda numbers. We have taken a number of actions to do that. We have increased the training allowance quite significantly. We have increased the age of entry for An Garda Síochána from 35 to 50. We are increasing the retirement age also. We have seen a very strong response in the latest Garda recruitment campaign with more than 6,300 people applying to become gardaí. There is no doubt the Covid pandemic disrupted the pattern of recruitment and the pipeline through Templemore. We are beginning to see that rectify itself now. I expect 2024 to be the year in which we see a garda numbers grow which is important to urban and rural communities.

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