Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is not the first time I have given out about the divisional structure. I have said many times that I am not sure the most sensible solution was combining Louth and Cavan-Monaghan into one area with a single superintendent. We all get the idea of streamlining, but the issue, as Deputy Carthy said, is that the number of gardaí to operate the system is insufficient. There is a major issue with community gardaí - we do not have enough of them - and with specialists units.

We await the arrival of community safety partnerships. There is huge unease about the fact the joint policing committees, JPCs, are not meeting. An absolute requirement we have is that there be engagement. If someone googles Dundalk and north Louth, they will read about recent violent assaults. I hope the victim of one of these assaults is doing well. We have had contact with members of the child's family, but we need anyone with information to come forward. There were also the recent arson attacks in Doolargy in north County Louth. We need a fit-for-purpose structure and we need engagement on the part of elected representatives and other stakeholders in the context of ensuring that we have a fit-for-purpose operation, which is not currently the case. The local authority will speak about the fact that it is not sure how exactly the community safety partnerships are going to get up and running.

See this speech in context