Results 1,041-1,060 of 11,548 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: Of the 14,200 gardaí, how many are doing nothing but administrative work?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: Following on from that, I am not sure what the figure is because we do not have it but there are 14,200 gardaí. Let us say the figure is 1,000 people. Is it possible that another 500 of those could be assigned to police work rather than administrative work? What is the target? Is it one year, two years or three years? It is about making the Garda more effective because a big...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: For instance, if a new housing area is being developed, over a short period 5,000, 6,000 or 7,000 houses might be built but no plan is in place as to where Garda members are going to operate from. It is not just about looking at existing infrastructure and the need for modernisation but also about planning for where we need new infrastructure, and I am not sure that is happening.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: Why should they take a long time? For instance, in my area of Cork, Glanmire, there was a project where the OPW agreed to buy a building and it took six years to complete the sale. That is an area with a population of over 25,000, and Garda members were operating out of a station that was totally out of date. Why should an area with such a huge population not have the infrastructure? Is...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: The population of the country has increased by 40% in the past 23 years. Is it not now time to say what we need in a given area and that we want it delivered within a 12-month or two-year period, not within a ten-year period?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: For the next, say, three years, what projects are planned to be delivered and where are the bottlenecks in those projects at present?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: Could we be given information about the projects for, say, the next five-year programme within the Garda, or is there a five-year programme?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: Could we get a copy of that? There is-----

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: -----an increase in the population and an increase in the demands on Garda members. Therefore, we need to have the infrastructure to give them that support.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: I think the witnesses would accept that a lot of Garda stations are out of date and are no longer adequate for the demands that are there.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: My final question relates to computerisation. Are the witnesses satisfied that, when compared with other police forces across the globe, we are as up to date as we can be? Over the next five years, how can this be further improved?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: If the process is halfway there, when it will it be fully there compared with other policing forces?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: Are the witnesses satisfied the targets that were set for each of those years are being met at this stage?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: I might on to the issue of Garda infrastructure. The figure for the capital programme was €325 million in 2022. The process in modernising Garda stations is delayed. We were talking about the OPW and the timeline. Can something be done to restructure the timeline for taking a project from start to finish? It appears to be taking forever to get any new Garda station built.

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. Unfortunately, I had two other meetings this morning and I apologise for being late. I am a former member of Cork City Council, which was very go-ahead in relation to Traveller accommodation. I think we had, and still have, five different sites when an awful lot of other local authorities had nothing at all. One of the problems that has...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: No, it is not alleged; it is a breach of planning.

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: I raised another issue. Cork City Council has been very progressive with regard to making available accommodation - in fact, it has five different facilities - but a problem arises when we say that a facility is suitable for 15 different units but suddenly there are 30 or 40 different units in there. The local authority then finds it difficult to provide the infrastructure because the site...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: It is very hard for a local authority to plan out the need if it has a certain number of families living in its jurisdiction and plans for that number, and then all of a sudden a whole lot of other people come in from outside the local authority area, which is what has occurred in the Cork case. They were not people who were residing within the local authority area prior to the facility...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: Does Ms Lucey not think there is a need for a more co-ordinated approach involving all local authorities, rather than one taking it on?

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Colm Burke: That is one of the problems that is there. In fairness, Cork City Council has been very progressive in its approach, but we have others where the same approach has not been taken.