Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to reduce resources for rural Garda stations; and the number of Garda stations marked for closure or reductions in opening hours over each of the next twelve months. [39446/12]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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By the end of October each year, the Commissioner must, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, submit to the Minister a policing plan for the following year. Any proposals for the closure of Garda stations must be set out in the plan. The policing plan for 2013 has not yet been submitted to the Minister. While there is little point in engaging in speculation as to what specific measures it may contain, the Minister has made it clear that he expects it will address the further rationalisation of the Garda station network.

It is important to make the point that the objective of rationalising the station network is to deploy gardaí more effectively. What is needed, and what the public want to see, is the greatest possible deployment of gardaí on operational duties. If there are too many stations, then there will be too many gardaí tied to those stations instead of being available for patrol and direct engagement with the community. Much the same argument applies to the decision taken by the Garda Commissioner this year to close the public counter in certain Dublin stations at night, when very few people call in anyway and when anyone with an emergency rings the emergency services. This has freed up gardaí for operational duties in those areas and is an improvement in the policing service.

The Garda Commissioner and his senior management will assess carefully how best to strike the right balance between the optimum number of Garda stations and the most effective deployment of gardaí on operational duties. There may be different views in this House on what the precise outcome should be, but surely no one can claim with any credibility that we must maintain every single Garda station we have had since the foundation of the State, without regard to the revolution there has been in transport, communications and technology. The policing plan for 2013 will be laid before this House in due course, and I look forward to a discussion on its objectives.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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It has been an interesting time in the context of the use of terminology to replace the word "cutbacks". The Minister of State has referred to "rationalising", "smart policing" and the Commissioner submitting his plan. The Minister for Justice and Equality has told the Commissioner that he must make the best use of the resources allocated. That is the reality and the buck stops with him in this regard.

I refer to the impact of this decision. Recently, the IFA surveyed 500 rural dwellers and half of them said they were concerned about policing in their area and believed it was getting worse. A total of 11% of them had been victims of crime. There is also the issue of people feeling there is no point reporting crime in rural areas. Martin Donnellan, former assistant Garda Commissioner, wrote an article in the The Sunday Business Post recently, in which he said:

We hear a lot these days about so-called smart policing but I wonder how the closure of Garda stations and the centralisation of policing outposts fit into this concept. The force will be limited in the intelligence it can obtain if it does not have the support of the public. This support has always been closely connected to the relationship between individual gardaí and the community.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Could the Deputy frame a question please?

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister stop passing the buck to the Commissioner? Will he listen to the concerns of those in rural communities about the loss of the vital partnership between community gardaí and the people as they gather intelligence to combat burglaries and about the fear and terror that many elderly people face in those communities?

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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There is no buck passing. The Commissioner and the Minister have their jobs to do. We are living in a time of reduced resources and the Commissioner's job is to put a plan in place to ensure the best value is obtained from available resources. That may mean closing Garda stations to release gardaí to do what the Deputy wants and to patrol rural areas, in particular, where people are isolated. In some instances, the isolation can be profound. It is not about passing the buck; it is about ensuring that the best value is achieved and the best policing methods are deployed to ensure people feel safe and secure in their homes. Sometimes that involves allowing gardaí to get out of stations rather than keeping them inside.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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This issue is about cutbacks and trying to dress them up and present them in a different way. The Garda Representative Association, which represents the vast majority of gardaí, is reporting that their colleagues in the UK say that the reduction in the number of police stations there has had a detrimental impact on their ability to police rural communities. The Minister represents the law and order party and presented himself, as Opposition spokesperson on justice, as a law and order spokesperson but he is ignoring the advice of a former assistant commissioner and of almost every garda on the ground and the experience they have. The impact of closing these stations will be seriously detrimental. Before the Government parties sign off and blame the Commissioner for what they are doing, will the Minister of State consider the concern this will cause? I understand 95 more Garda stations will close in the near future. The Minister needs to understand the fear and concern in rural communities and pull back from this.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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No one is denying we have significantly reduced resources. It is as simple as that. The Commissioner has legal responsibility for directing and controlling the force and he has informed the Minister that it is intended, where possible, that the resources currently available in Garda stations that have been closed will remain in their own districts, subject at all time to operational requirements determined by him. It is about ensuring we achieve the best value from gardaí. The Garda in the main does a good job. Where a station is closed, it is always hoped that the gardaí assigned to it will remain in the district but that is clearly an operational issue for the Commissioner. This is not blame game; it is about ensuring our communities are safe.