James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for that information. Above all else, I am here to represent the people of Cork East and it is an honour to do so. It is a constituency that is growing incredibly quickly. A sign of this was the latest census and constituency boundary review. More than 20,000 electors have been moved to different constituencies and this just gives an idea of the scale of the growth in the area.

I am raising this issue because when I speak to constituents, especially around the issue of rural crime, including crime in agriculture and robberies involving expensive construction equipment and individual homes, they tell me it is something they want to see addressed.

People want to see visibility when it comes to policing. We are very lucky in our constituency and I thank our local gardaí for the enormously positive work they do in our community, day in, day out, night and day. We also have to acknowledge the issue of resourcing given the number of people in the area. This is something I am concerned about. It needs to be addressed and called out. There are other issues I will refer to at a different stage. The drop in numbers since 2020 is a concern because the population has come up by so much. This is something the Minister for Justice needs to focus on.

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