Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also wish the Minister well in his new role. I also wish to comment on the positive recruitment campaign for gardaí that was launched recently and to encourage people to consider the Garda as a positive career choice. We are fortunate to have an excellent police force, obviously throughout the country but in Kildare specifically. Community gardaí, such as Garda Aidan McGuane, contribute so much to the community. Community policing has been a resounding success in this country.

We are, however, massively under-resourced in Kildare. We have the second lowest garda ratio number in the country. Four towns in Kildare North - Maynooth, Celbridge, Clane and Kilcock - have part-time stations. The approach the Leixlip district has taken is a hub and spoke approach. Maynooth, my hometown, for example, has a population of 17,000 people. Add on to that 14,000 students and you have a population of 31,000 in the town of Maynooth without a full-time Garda station. If you were to look anywhere else in the country, you would be hard pressed to find a town of that size without a full-time Garda station. The recent regional spatial and economic strategy, RSES, allocated an additional population of 10,000 people to Maynooth. Will we be at a stage where we have a town of 41,000 people without a full-time Garda station? Celbridge has a population of 21,000 people. What I am looking at with Maynooth and Celbridge, in particular, is a Garda station locally that is open only two hours per day. With populations that big and with populations that are growing, such core towns, not only in Kildare but also in Wicklow and Meath, for example, need to be resourced properly. Naturally, I am looking to Kildare North specifically. What I am asking is that the Minister look at the resourcing and the allocation of new gardaí coming on board and look favourably on a full-time Garda station for Maynooth and for Celbridge and, further down the line, for Clane and for Kilcock.

I also bring to the Minister's attention numerous incidents that have been happening on the main street of Celbridge. The Garda is aware of this. I had four business people and people in the community in to my constituency office yesterday who are basically scared of what is happening in the town centre. Young women are afraid to walk down the town centre. The business people are claiming they are losing business because of what is happening. There is a lack of footfall in the town centre because of what is happening. Perhaps the Minister would speak to the superintendent in the district about this particular issue in Celbridge and, as I said, look favourably on a full-time Garda station for both Maynooth and Celbridge.

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