Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to speak on statements on policing and community safety, but if we are to be serious about this the outcome has to be that people actually feel safe in their own local communities. Unfortunately, a lot of them do not. In 2007 John Fitzgerald produced a report that led to the Limerick regeneration programme. In that report he stated that we needed a minimum of 100 extra gardaí for the four regeneration areas. That never materialised and we have had problems since then. I put on record that the gardaí in Limerick do a really good job. I deal with them on a continuous basis, but they cannot respond, they cannot do their work and they cannot deliver for the communities if they do not actually exist. Numbers decreased between 2023 and 2024, not significantly, but they should be going the other way. We did a survey recently and 547 people responded. Most of those were from regeneration areas but not exclusively and 57% of those people said they did not feel safe in their own communities. We need a focus on Limerick, and we need additional gardaí on the streets.

On other issues, I have raised previously in the Dáil particular problems in particular areas. The previous Minister for Justice organised for a Garda response in a particular part of Limerick with really good results, but there were only good results because we put extra resources in. We authorised overtime and we got additional staff and Operation Copóg was successful, but it has run out and the area is back to where it was before. I raised the issue of horses in urban areas in a Topical Issue question last week. The numbers of seizures are down dramatically and that is because there are no gardaí available to go out when the local authority is seizing horses. They need to have Garda protection when they are doing that because it is not safe. Unfortunately, and I hate to say this in the Dáil, but I have said on a number of occasions that crack cocaine is prevalent in Limerick city. It started off in Limerick city. It is available in Limerick city. It is cheaper to buy in Limerick city than anywhere else. People come from all over the country to buy their crack cocaine in Limerick city because it is cheaper. We obviously need to look at addressing not just the crime aspects of that but the health aspects, and funding groups that are supporting people in addiction. Other issues include the courts in Limerick. We have a brand new Courts Service facility with six courtrooms, but they are never fully operational. People are waiting for long times. As was raised earlier, the issue around bail needs to be looked at. People are entitled to bail - I have no problem with that - but continuously reoffending while on bail should be addressed.

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