Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is a soundbite in the South that the Garda stations must be kept open. There is no future in gardaí sitting in the station. The future is in the gardaí being on the street. This has been proved this week in Donegal where the gardaí made many arrests in connection with the robberies of the past two weeks, much to the disgust of certain politicians such as the Deputy who predicted that there would be no one arrested for these crimes. I read an article today about Buncrana where the local policing committee said that the gardaí had received many calls in the past week or two from members of the public with information on robberies and that is the way forward. Having more Garda stations will not help that situation. I respect Senator Norris's view that a smart phone is not the way forward. I agree that smart policing is the way forward, in conjunction with a smart phone and a laptop and the technology that is available.