Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá céad fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, an Teachta McGinley. Mar a dúirt an Seanadóir Keane, tá súil againn go n-éireoidh go maith le Bliain na Gaeilge. Is breá an rud é. D'impigh mé ar Baill an Oireachtais inné oiread Gaeilge agus is féidir a úsáid le linn na bliana. Ba mhaith liom an leasú atá ag Sinn Féin ar an rún seo a mholadh. Sílim go bhfuil go leor inmholta sa rún seo, ar nós an t-aitheantas a thugtar don obair mhaith atá ar siúl sa phobal maidir le cúrsaí coiriúlachta, srl. I ndáiríre, áfach, tá an rún ag damhsa timpeall ar na príomh-cheisteanna.

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after ??between April and December 2012?? and substitute the following:
??? welcomes that the adoption by public services including local authorities, of initiatives which provide support to businesses, to ensure greatly improved communities for tourists and residents alike;
believes that
the Government?s recent announcement that 100 Garda stations will be closed and 14 rural garda districts will be scrapped and remotely managed from urban centres next year, is a substantial blow to the infrastructure of rural Ireland, and has caused great concern in rural communities;
closing stations and operating stations with one officer only serves to reduce Garda visibility in rural areas. Garda stations must be kept open and sufficiently staffed and equipped to allow for both in-station services and acceptable callout response times;
in rural settings, it is essential that Gardaí have sufficient equipment and accommodation that is fit for purpose including secure digital radio, satellite navigation systems, internet and email access and suitable transportation;
sufficient resources must also be made available to respond to crime phenomena such as the break-ins and attacks on elderly people, such as we have seen in Donegal in recent weeks. Such attacks inculcate significant concern in rural communities;
and that Seanad Éireann further notes:
that the closures and cutbacks come on the back of substantial cutbacks, closures and reductions in opening hours in rural garda stations during the course of the
Fianna Fáil/Green Party Coalition;
that both the Irish Farmers? Association and the Garda Representatives Association, have opposed these on-going station closures on the basis of their impact on community policing, and in particular in rural areas;
and therefore calls on the Government to support the development of initiatives to improve the quality of life for individuals and families across communities in urban and rural areas, and to reverse the cutbacks Garda stations recently announced.??.

Even though the motion is positive in many respects, many of which are worthy of commendation, in my view it is a great act of political ballet in that it dances right around the major issues relating to the resourcing of Garda policing in rural areas in particular. The Sinn Féin amendment addresses the issue of closure of Garda stations, the lack of resources and transport. If the Government is serious about community safety in rural areas, the issue of rural policing must be at the top of the agenda. The next generation in rural Ireland will not have anything like the public services which were available to their grandparents. It is a shocking indictment of this Government's attitude towards rural Ireland that this is the case.

One of the most obvious manifestations of the curtailing of public services is the running down of the Garda Síochána and the closure of stations. A total of 39 Garda stations have been closed permanently over the past year. We understand that some 100 more are mooted to be closed. People in rural communities are hugely concerned at the implications of this policy for them and for their communities, not only with regard to safety but also the resulting sense of isolation and insecurity. There is a very real perception that the curtailment of policing increases the likelihood of people becoming the victims of crime, as evidenced in the number of burglaries and violent assaults on rural households. I refer to a recent incident in my own home town where an elderly brother and sister were robbed not once but twice in the past six months. They were terrorised in the process. This is not an uncommon practice. It is not solely an issue for rural dwellers. I refer to a meeting in the Shantalla area of Galway city last Sunday attended by more than 150 local residents to discuss how to handle the spate of burglaries. I commend the fantastic work of the community policing officer who was in attendance. It is obvious, however, that the resources in the area are very stretched. These issues must be dealt with.

The decision to close Garda stations should not be based solely on the level of crime in an area. I believe this was the benchmark used by the Minister. It should be the measure of the success of a rural Garda station and the gardaí if the level of crime is low in a rural area. It shows the local gardaí are on top of the case, so to speak, that they know the people in the area who might go astray and have headed them off at the pass. I refer also to the role of the Garda Síochána in rural areas in dealing with cases of domestic violence and with accidents and deaths. It is important to have gardaí based in rural areas so that they can react quickly in times of need.

More generally, it is believed that the loss of such stations represents a weakening of the social fabric of such communities. The local garda plays a significant role as a community resource and as a point of contact. We all know from our own areas that a centralised Garda service means it will take more time for a garda to travel out to a situation, in particular if he or she is not familiar with the rural area and with the houses and people involved.

Sinn Féin is carrying out a significant campaign around areas of rural Ireland. We have met many people in different areas. One of the issues raised most frequently is that of rural policing. We met a group of people from west Cork who are campaigning against the closure of stations in the area. This issue was mentioned also by Senator O'Donovan. It is the view of many people in rural areas that the Department review which recommended closures was based on raw crime statistics contained and detailed in the PULSE system. In their view this is the wrong approach as it focused on crime detection rather than on crime prevention. Knowledge of his or her community and crime prevention are the main components of the work of a rural-based garda. The community garda will have built up a credibility and respect in the community. As things stand, gardaí are often not keeping appointments for community clinics as advertised in stations which are only served a few hours a week. This concern is evident all over rural Ireland. Everyday business, such as passport forms to be stamped, is delayed. I know of a person in a rural area who required stamped documentation for a passport for his child. He could not find a garda and tried to make an appointment with a garda in a local station. He was asked to travel 20 miles for an appointment at a specified time. There was no garda in attendance when he arrived as arranged. He was asked to travel almost another 20 miles to Galway city. This is an unacceptable and unfair burden on the community. A proper service cannot be delivered to people when they need it.

Garda transport is an issue which has also been raised by other speakers. In a number of cases, gardaí have either failed to respond or have taken an inordinate length of time to respond to reported incidents because of a lack of resources such as vehicles. Gardaí should be able to respond appropriately and in good time when called upon for assistance. Gardaí have told me off the record that they are being asked by their superintendents to use their own cars. For example, plain-clothes officers have used their own cars even though they are not supposed to do so. I know this is happening in all parts of the country because I have been told by gardaí. It is an unacceptable situation. It is also unacceptable that where a patrol car is not available to travel to an incident - as happened in my home village of Carraroe - the garda should ask the person making the telephone call to collect him. There has been an overall increase in crimes such as burglaries, an increase of 8% in 2011 and a more dramatic increase of 15% in the first quarter of 2012. Over 1,700 burglary suspects have been arrested, with more than 980 people charged between April and August 2011. The Garda Síochána attributes rising crime to cutbacks. There will be more than 500 fewer Garda patrol cars by the end of 2012 compared to 2009. I note the decrease did not begin under the current Government but it began in the time of the previous Government. However, the current Government has continued the policy. People in rural communities are seeing an increase in more violent break-ins, often targeting elderly people living alone, such as the recent barbarous attacks in Donegal.

There needs to be a more focused approach to the policing of rural communities. The 2007 report, Policing in Ireland - Looking Forward, the Garda inspectorate found that in many instances small rural stations were serviced by one officer answering to a district headquarters but mostly operating alone without ready access to supervisors, an official car or Garda IT systems. The Garda inspectorate recommended the implementation of a consistent rural policing model to enhance visibility and to make best use of Garda resources for serving local communities. This has never happened in any meaningful way. Instead, there have been reductions in service hours or the complete closure of Garda stations.

Ba mhaith liom an leasú atá ag Sinn Féin á chur chun cinn. Sílim nach dtéann an rún atá molta ag na Seanadóirí sách fada. Is léir sin ón gcaint atá á dhéanamh i measc an phobail. Tá súil agam go mbeidh Seanadóirí in ann tacaíocht a thabhairt don leasú atá déanta againn.