Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad that my commencement matter has been selected for today. I understand the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister of State are unavailable but at least I was told in advance. It is a pity they are not here because in the village of Duleek, County Meath, there is considerable fear and apprehension about the surge in the number of burglaries of premises and robberies that have taken place.In this year alone, 15 burglaries of houses and offices have been reported to the Garda Síochána and I am certain the number is higher. One was reported in January, one in February and 13 reported in March. This week alone there was a particular surge. The local youth café which was recently opened and only through the voluntary efforts of many in the local community, was burgled of its televisions and other equipment which had been generously donated and paid for by the local community through fund raising. Local businesses, including hairdressers, barber shops and pubs - there was a burglary last night in a local licensed premises - have been burgled and there is considerable fear and anxiety in the community. The gardaí do their best and we all have a good relationship with the local superintendent who does his best. However, we do not have a full-time Garda station. I have been asking for a full-time Garda station for a long time. The number of gardaí tend to vary between three and four for this village and clearly this is not sufficient. In my view the village is earmarked by criminals as somewhere gardaí are not present. The simple solution is to assign more gardaí to this area. Since the population boom and more people came to live in areas like Duleek and in east Meath in general, in my view, the Garda management has not recognised that fact. The number of gardaí has been static for many years. People will recall when there was a full-time Garda station there. Now there are easy pickings provided to these criminals by the motorway network and new houses where the residents are out all day.

I wish the Garda Síochána the best of luck but we are demanding more gardaí for Duleek. The people are demanding a full-time Garda station because that is the only thing that will put these people off doing their terrible acts.