Seanad debates

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

10:30 am

Photo of Maria ByrneMaria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome an announcement made today on the Garda's use of pedal power. This morning, I attended a meeting with representatives of Retail Excellence Ireland at which concerns were raised about the visual presence of gardaí. In Limerick this morning, the Garda announced that 36 gardaí will be trained for deployment on bicycles. Of these, 12 are in training, while the remainder are to be trained in the coming week. Senators may laugh and ask why gardaí need training to ride a bike. It seems they need to learn particular techniques for dealing with crime while cycling. This approach will create a more visual Garda presence and enable gardaí to reach scenes of crime much faster and approach culprits silently from behind. This will be important because concerns about a lack of Garda visibility on the streets were raised by traders this morning. I welcome the announcement that the number of gardaí in Limerick is to increase. I hope this approach will be replicated nationwide.

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