Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)

First, although I did not bring the group in, I welcome the group from Cork North-West, I presume, and some from my home town of Mallow.

This is an extremely important debate. It is very important that we have our courts system and laws in place but ultimately the main focus of my speech is on the issue of Garda numbers and-or Garda stations, in particular across my own county of Cork. The issues are persistent with staffing numbers and while communities continue to expand, we cannot see Garda numbers expanding within our own rural towns and villages, across Cork in particular. I am not placing blame here but this is about supporting gardaí and communities. Three new gardaí were announced for Cork city and 74 for Dublin. In March, there were three for Cork again and 98 for Dublin.

There is crime and there are community needs in every part of the country. I call on the members of the Government to take their heads out of Dublin for a minute. I am not denying that there is crime and there are community needs in Dublin city as well, but we have crime and community needs in Cork city and county. Padraig Harrington, the GRA delegate for the Cork city division, stated that there were three retirements and two promotions in the Cork city division, so even with three new gardaí, we are two short. My colleague, Councillor Peter Horgan, said that gardaí are feeling abandoned and he is absolutely correct.

Regarding my hometown of Mallow, I commend Superintendent Gary McPolin. Having met him, I understand completely the barriers that are before him as a superintendent. I wrote to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, in February in relation to Mallow Garda station. The issues were passed to the Garda Commissioner, who then passed them to justice liaison, and there has been no response since. One issue I raised was the fact there has been no central heating in Mallow Garda station for six years. Superintendent McPolin told me he is very conscious of the fact that no gardaí have walked out on him. There is just one doctor covering the north-west division. It is extremely important to recognise that while the needs of the many people across the north-west division are high, there is only one doctor covering the area.

In other parts of Cork North-Central, the station in the town of Ballincollig - the village, as it would have been - is manned 24 hours but only opens a few hours a week, forcing the public to go to Togher Garda station. Some 20,000 people are living in Ballincollig. It is a failure of the Commissioner and the Minister, not a failure of the Garda. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, to work with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to assign more gardaí to Cork city.

See this speech in context