Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister of State well. There is a massive amount of work to be done. There is a significant drug problem in our communities. I recently spoke to several gardaí who told me they do not have the manpower or time to deal with drugs. Those drug issues include underage kids taking drugs, which is a major issue. Theft, violence and antisocial behaviour are all on the rise.

We all know we need more gardaí and that we need to reopen our rural Garda stations. That cannot be done, however, because of issues with recruitment and retention. Being a garda used to be a job a father would pass to a son, but that link has broken because we have reduced morale and pay and conditions in the Garda. There has been a radical change to policing. This country used to have a proactive community policing model. That has now been eroded because the Garda Commissioner and successive senior managers would rather have gardaí tied up behind screens doing paperwork. That is the truth.

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