Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Garda recruitment is an issue that keeps cropping up. I want to talk specifically about community gardaí and the need for extra resources in that area.

I know the Minister visited west Cork recently and in my constituency, the Clonakilty community garda covers an area which includes Clonakilty, Dunmanway and Skibbereen. That is a huge geographical area. The same can be said for the Bandon area, where the Minister visited. That is a massive geographical area and the scale of the work they do is absolutely incredible. Recently, I met the community garda in Bandon. She was in a school I was visiting and she was doing incredible work in informing kids about the dangers of online abuse and potential exploitation online. It is extraordinarily important work and they need to be supported. They need extra resources. There needs to be at least two community gardaí in big geographical areas like this. Is that something the Minister can look into?

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