Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom a rá go dtuigim díreach an méid oibre atá i gceist chun clár Rialtais a chur le chéile. Agus an obair sin ar siúl, tá daoine ar fud na tíre ag iarraidh polasaithe a chur isteach sa chlár sin agus na rudaí atá tábhachtach dóibhsean a bheith ann agus i bpolasaithe an Rialtais freisin. It is a big job to put together a policy and a programme for Government like this and huge credit is due to those who were involved in negotiating this plan, putting it together and putting in so many things that are so important to communities throughout this country. I do not underestimate the amount of work that is involved in that and I do not in anyway gainsay how difficult it is to put together something that is on the one hand achievable and realistic but on the other also addresses the concerns so many people have.

That said, I want to address some of the issues that are important within the clár Rialtais. As somebody who practises in the courts as a criminal barrister, crime is something that is front and centre. It is something on which I did a lot of work in the past five years. The targets set for the recruitment of gardaí are hugely important. We cannot possibly hope to address issues of crime, but specifically address issues people have about feeling safe in their communities, if we are not putting in place the gardaí required to deliver on that. Recruitment of gardaí is really important, but so also is putting in place incentives to encourage people, at a time when we are a victim of our own success because of the success of our economy and the extent of employment in the country at the moment, to take the step towards the selfless act that is becoming a member of An Garda Síochána. It is something that is probably more vocation than job but we need to make it easy for people to make that choice. In that regard, I certainly welcome the targets set in the programme but it is also important to put in place additional incentives to achieve those targets.

Some of the difficulties gardaí have in particular relate to housing. I know we have heard a lot about housing but my own constituency of Dún Laoghaire, is probably the most expensive constituency - or one of them - in the country in which to live. It is a really difficult challenge for a probationer garda or a young garda to come to live in the Dún Laoghaire area. I would like to see us putting in place specific supports, including the provision of accommodation where it is appropriate, for young and junior gardaí to allow them to go to work in any station, whether it is in a rural or urban area. Obviously, it is a particularly acute problem for me in Dún Laoghaire.

The other thing is, although the plan does not go into the specifics in this regard, we need to be looking at opening more Garda stations in areas where there is population growth. One of them that occurs to me is Cherrywood. I hope the Minister for Justice, when looking at these issues, will consider the establishment of a new Garda station in Cherrywood to serve the new community. We have spent a lot of time and energy over recent years developing the special development zone in Cherrywood which is now beginning to burgeon and grow. There are many people moving into what will be a wonderful community, but we also need to put in place a Garda station to help to police that area and to serve the wider community.

We also need to put in place a Garda station to help to police that area and to serve the wider community. It is a good location because of the road infrastructure there and the access to the surrounding areas. Equally, in terms of policing, road safety is greatly important. We have not had success in this regard in the past year. We must focus on putting in place facilities to convince people that if they are going to break the law on the road, they will be caught and there will be consequences. That is something I have already raised with the Minister.

Equally, in the area of transport generally, we need to be ambitious. I am glad to see ambition in public transport and a metro for Dublin. We need to progress this sooner rather than later. Every year we delay means it will cost more and more. The other issue in public transport is accessibility. At the moment, we have a preposterous situation where people who are mobility impaired and use a wheelchair or other devices must give notice to the likes of Bus Éireann or Iarnród Éireann that they are going to use public transport. In some cases, it is 24 hours' notice. This is unacceptable and needs to be eradicated. We need to have fully accessible public transport throughout the country.

On the issue of Gaelscoileanna, there are only two in my constituency. One is a DEIS school and the other is Scoil Lorcáin, which is a very well established Gaelscoil. We have two excellent Gaelcholáistí in Coláiste Íosagáin and Coláiste Eoin, but what we also have is a dearth of Gaelcholáistí for people in the surrounding area to graduate to after the bunscoil and Gaelscoil level. There is a real problem with the way the Department of Education assesses the need for them. There is a need and the Department needs to be proactive in establishing where there is a need for Gaelcholáistí to make sure gur féidir le tuismitheoirí gur mhaith leo an Gaeloideachas a chur ar fáil dá bpáistí é sin a dhéanamh.

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