Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address this issue. It makes sense to amalgamate the Policing Authority and the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, provided that there is strong oversight. Some of the flaws have been highlighted by previous speakers and I am not going to go over them, but it is important that, by and large, the Garda get policing in this State right. Since police forces need to have many powers, there needs to be a lot of oversight. However, it needs to be practical in terms of implementation and functions.

Could I raise joint policing committees with the Minister? I was a member of one for several years. The committees were useful forums but a bit toothless. What is being proposed looks like a recreation of them. They need to have strong powers, a strong oversight role and genuine input into community policing and local policing plans.

On gardaí, the overall budget has nearly doubled since 2016, from €55 billion to €105 billion. The justice budget has increased in line with that, but although there are more gardaí and a bigger budget there are fewer front-line gardaí. I was told in Portarlington the other day that there were two gardaí in the town, the second biggest town in County Laois. This is the problem. I am sure the Minister is hearing about this in his constituency. In country towns, we hear there is a huge shortage of gardaí for front-line policing. We hear it from the Garda itself.

We can see that Garda resources were stretched in the likes of the Dublin riots. Some improvements have been made and the public order units have been expanded, which will be welcome when the units are needed, but the response needs to be proportionate. What happened over Sunday night and yesterday morning outside these gates was not proportionate. The protest was peaceful. I am not going to go on long about this but I fail to see why there is a need to use such disproportionate force. I have been at many protests over the years but have not seen the Garda use unnecessary force of that kind. I am really curious as to why strip-searching was used. The last time it was used was as a punishment against republican women prisoners in Armagh Gaol. That was in different times and we do not want to see that kind of oppression of women and invasiveness down here. There needs to be Garda accountability in this regard.

On the Estimates overall, the Garda and the funding of justice are important. We have seen some improvement in the Garda stations, which is to be welcomed. The new station in Portlaoise is going ahead, as the Minister knows. I understand that the Minister cannot tell the Garda Commissioner where to send gardaí daily but there has to be more emphasis on community policing and having a visible garda presence. Gardaí cannot be seen everywhere but we can do better than we are doing.

There is a considerable budget for social protection. I do not see the means test of the carer’s allowance happening yet. Issues like this and the GP medical card need to be tackled. I would like the Minister to take that on board.

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