Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)

My community and many others throughout the State are being terrorised by scramblers every day, driving on our roads, our paths and in our parks. I have consistently called for the establishment of an anti-scrambler unit that is trained and resourced to deal with this scourge. The Minister for justice refuses to do it and kicks the can down to senior gardaí, who then kick the can back to him. I will give one example. Drones are used in conjunction with anti-scrambler units by British police. An Garda Síochána has had a unit trained since 2023, but it will not use it because of a lack of legislative clarity. However, I can get a coffee or fast food delivered in the same area by a private company. I find it bizarre, at a time when our communities are being terrorised by scramblers, that a unit has not been established here. We have the resources. We know it operates in Britain. We know it works, but we do not have such a unit here. It is time to ask the Minister for justice to sit down with senior gardaí to establish an anti-scrambler unit, sort out this legislative clarity and get dealing with this problem. What is happening at the moment is not working.

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