Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join Senators Craughwell and Wilson in calling on the Minister for Education and Skills and the teachers' unions to redouble their efforts to ensure there will not be a strike in the run up to Christmas. The last thing pupils, teachers and parents want is a strike. It is obvious that significant progress has been made by the Minister in recent weeks and I hope a satisfactory conclusion can be reached to resolve this unnecessary and unwanted dispute.

I join colleagues in calling for a debate on the Garda Inspectorate report. I strongly support and applaud the wonderful work done each day by the gardaí at the coal face. They are operating in difficult and dangerous times and they are doing an amazing job. However, the Garda is typical of an organisation that has not been modernised in recent decades, and successive Governments must take the blame for failing to invest in and modernise the Garda systems. This Government is committed to doing that and I have no doubt that it will. The report shows the need for a sea change in policing in Ireland. Very serious systemic weaknesses have shown up in the Garda structure. There is a need for huge investment in new technology, modernisation of crime investigation and operational and support infrastructure.

Senator Michael D'Arcy highlighted a major issue that is central to this report, the poor handling of domestic violence. However, I welcome the Government's commitment to putting a new victim liaison office in every Garda division. The victims of crime are very much forgotten in the general debate and I hope the Government's commitment is honoured and implemented quickly.