Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

Both of us are united in our concern about the volatility of the situation in Limerick as it pertains to serious crime and the absence of an adequate and visible policing presence to tackle this.

Limerick is a wonderful place and a city that has come far since the dark says of 20 years ago, yet the lack of an active and visible policing presence has become a defining feature of our city. In a recent reply to a parliamentary question, it was revealed that of the 120 gardaí who attested from Templemore this month, only two were assigned to Limerick. That is 1.6% of the total number. Seventy four gardaí form the same cohort were assigned to Dublin.

Limerick and the mid-west are consistently overlooked when it comes to the assignment of gardaí. The model for assigning gardaí is failing Limerick. It does not consider the actual level of need in the city. Limerick has nine of the 17 economic blackspots in the city. It is the home of St. Mary's Park, which is a wonderful community but also the most deprived community in the State. The residents of this community do not deserve to live in the shadow of a minority of drug-dealing vultures who peddle crack cocaine, an evil insidious drug.

Gardaí had relatively successful operations - Operation Capóg and Operation Feabhsaigh - to tackle this but these have ceased as Garda resources have been diverted to the south side of the city in order to tackle a wave of violence in Ballinacurra Weston. Make no mistake, we have a feud again in Limerick. We have had shootings, pipe bomb attacks and fire bombings. It is a miracle nobody has been killed. The Commissioner's restrictions on overtime are a complete disgrace. He does not have a clue what is going on in Limerick. This is not something minor that involves antisocial behaviour. We need at least ten additional gardaí in the next passing out from Templemore. I ask the Minister to intervene directly before someone is killed.

I also raise the need for funding approval for the CCTV system in Moyross. This is vital. An ask and a business case has gone to the Department of justice and I plead with the Minister to push for the approval of this as a matter of urgency. An application for a CCTV scheme for the community of Garryowen has been with the Commissioner for over two months and a sign-off is urgently needed on that.

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