Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with my colleagues on some aspects of their criticism of the current difficulties with the Garda. There has been debate about the lack of trust but one issue that has not been highlighted is that there will now be a difficulty accepting the evidence of gardaí in courts. It is important to resolve the Garda's current difficulties at a very early stage, in particular, where judges accepted the evidence of gardaí that the fixed charge notice had been served and there is now clear evidence that it had not been. A number of legal colleagues were on to me over the weekend about cases in which people went into the witness box and gave evidence under oath that they had not received the fixed charge notice. The doubt was created but they had to go through all of that and it is an issue we need to address. We need to build that trust not only in the Garda, but in the gardaí presenting their evidence in court.

I join my colleague, Senator Lombard, in thanking the Minister, Deputy Coveney, for the announcement yesterday that a major infrastructural development will take place to assist the building of new houses. In my area of Cork North-Central, over €30 million has been allocated which will enable more than 1,600 houses to be built. It is a welcome development which could yield over 3,600 houses in the long term. It is important that the infrastructure is put in place to fast track all the requirements for housing and that there are no further delays outside the planning issue. Once planning permission was granted, there was always a delay in trying to put in the infrastructure. It is important it is now done. I welcome the announcement that was made in the past number of days. It is important that all local authorities around the country identify projects that can assist the building of new houses. It is the biggest expense people have in their lives and, therefore, the State must do everything possible to make it affordable for people. The important part about the development is to make sure we have all the necessary infrastructure such as roads, water and sewage systems. I welcome the development and the need for it to be fast tracked.