Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss policing and community safety. I wish the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, well in his appointment as Minister for Justice. He has certainly had a very strong start and I welcome his fresh approach to his very challenging portfolio.

I welcome the Minister’s ambition to introduce the new legislation which will support our gardaí and give them the tools they need to carry out their job. I support changes to the stop-and-search rules, reforming bail laws and the introduction of facial recognition technology, which should have been introduced in the last term. In particular, I strongly support the proposal to ensure anyone convicted of a crime while out on bail receives a consecutive sentence for that crime. This has been the subject of many debates in this House and there have obviously been attempts to bring in legislation on it. If there is ambiguity and if it cannot be achieved through the sentencing guidelines then we should introduce primary legislation to deal that aspect of the courts and the legislation that exists.

The public have the right to be safe and feel safe as they go about their business in their communities, in the city centre and on public transport. This has been an acute problem for quite some time here in Dublin. The answer is more gardaí out and about in our communities. I welcome the Minister’s confirmation Garda numbers will increase by 5,000 members over the next five years. We also need to see an increase in Garda Reserve numbers. It has played and can continue to play a vital and supportive contributing role in An Garda Síochána.

I am look forward to working with the Minister of State as we deal with the challenges facing our communities and cities, particularly here in Dublin.

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