Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)

We had that regular Thursday pantomime at the end of the first part of Leaders' Questions. I want to focus on an issue that is important to the Labour Party, which is Garda resources and Garda recruitment. Specifically, I want to raise with the Tánaiste the lack of new Garda stations and the Government's continued lack of meeting Garda recruitment figures. According to a reply to a parliamentary question I submitted earlier this year, since 2017, only two new Garda stations have been delivered in the country, despite the population increasing by nearly 1 million citizens. One of those stations is on O'Connell Street in the centre of Dublin. The other was a replacement of the divisional headquarters in Wexford. There has been only one new Garda station in eight years. It is simply unacceptable. In my town of Swords, the third largest town in Ireland, we have a Garda station that is only fit for a village. The town of Donabate, just up the road, which is served by Swords Garda station and will be 20,000 people strong in a couple of years, has no Garda station or plans for a Garda station.

This is not unusual throughout the country. My colleagues and I are screaming out for more resources throughout the country, particularly in rural Ireland, where we are being gaslit by the Minister about Garda resources. In a response earlier this year, the justice Minister said that 56 stations in this country were not closed but were simply unstaffed. That is absolute nonsense. If the door is not open and there are no opening hours for people to go in and meet and talk to gardaí, that station is, in effect, closed.

Here is the reality. Figures show that 129 of 567 stations had a reduction in the number of gardaí assigned to them in the last year, and one in ten stations is without any designated garda. Overall numbers in An Garda Síochána have actually grown, by a paltry increase of 193. However, if you dig into the detail, the number of front-line gardaí has actually decreased, from just over 12,000 to 11,928, a net decrease. Warning lights are being flashed for the Government. At its conference this year, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors stated that we could lose 30% to 50% of our force due to upcoming retirements. Fine Gael has always identified itself as the party of law and order, yet the Tánaiste's party has stood over this lack of delivery for nearly a decade. The Tánaiste was one of the Ministers responsible for this portfolio, lest we forget. This situation is now beyond urgent and we need to see this Government make big changes to ensure greater recruitment and retention of gardaí and investment in Garda stations. The Government needs to look at increasing the training allowance, at pension reform and at building more stations.

Will the Tánaiste increase the Garda training allowance to really incentivise new recruits? Will he reform the pension for our uniformed service members, including our gardaí who were hired post 2013, who upon retirement will receive no support from the State for possibly ten years? Will this Government commit to significantly increasing the number of new Garda stations being built around the country, prioritising large towns that have unfit-for-purpose stations, such as my own, Swords, and for really rapidly growing towns such as Donabate and many others throughout the country?

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