Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I too support colleagues in calling for a debate on antisocial behaviour. Senator Ward articulated very well a modern problem in respect of antisocial behaviour. Certain people in our community are suffering and we need to address that. We also need to address what is going on in our streets not only in the city of Dublin, but also in other towns where wanton thuggery is taking place. We need to ensure that the streets of our towns and cities are safe for people to come and go. Ireland is a place of welcome. We hope to rebuild our tourism industry and to return to 10 million people visiting our country a year. When people do come, they need to be able to travel around our country and our towns and cities safely, whether by day or by night. That debate is necessary and, like others, I welcome the announcement of 800 extra gardaí in the budget. That will certainly help increase the complement of gardaí to a figure in excess of 15,000. That is where we want it. We never want to go under 15,000 gardaí again. There has also been significant investment in ICT, equipment and vehicles for An Garda Síochána but the simple reality is that there are parts of the city of Dublin and our towns around the country that are no-go areas and that has to be ended.