Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

For the second time, I will repeat it for the people in the back who may not have heard my response to all Deputy Doherty's three questions. The Deputy might repeat what I have actually said over the past number of years. There are absolutely problems in our city centre and in every part of our country that we need to address. By addressing those, we can ensure every person is safe and feels safe in our towns, homes and villages. I have always said there are challenges. I have outlined all the things I have done and that our new, current Minister for Justice will do with the support of the Government to achieve those overall objectives.

I introduced laws specifically recognising the fact that there is a significant problem when a young person decides to carry a knife or when a young person or any person thinks it is appropriate to carry a knife. That is why increasing sentencing was a priority for the previous Government and why making sure gardaí have as power much as possible to ascertain those knives is an absolute priority.

On the final point, we are making progress and seeing more gardaí. I have said we need to go beyond 15,000 gardaí. In fact, we have a higher target than we set initially.

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