Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The issue of policing is one that all of us grapple with regularly. The announcement in the budget that 1,000 additional gardaí will be allocated and provided for is very welcome. However, the issue of allocation and where those gardaí eventually find themselves in our local towns and villages is one I think we all have concerns about. When we raise that in here, if we have a debate in this Chamber and the Minister for Justice addresses us, she will, of course, defer to the line that policing matters and where gardaí are placed are matters for the Garda Commissioner. Then we raise it at our joint policing committee meetings, which is our forum to do so, and we speak about the fact we need gardaí in Navan, Ratoath or wherever else and, of course, we are then told it is a matter for the chief superintendent. That is all well and good, but there is a political problem here, and it is historical, with where gardaí were placed over a number of years and with the fact that, when people retire, other gardaí are brought in but that Garda strength has not kept pace with the urbanisation of the east coast in places like Meath, Kildare and Wicklow and where greater resources are needed. Actually, a disproportionate advantage is given to those growing counties. What prompted me to raise this is that my town of Navan, with a population of some 36,000 people, does not have a second patrol car. Having spoken to local gardaí, I am told that to man that requires an additional 12 gardaí to make sure the shifts are covered so that that is in place. It is not a simple case of just two gardaí but a case of 12.

Tonight we have a public joint policing committee meeting in Ratoath for County Meath. One concerned resident from Navan wrote to me ahead of tonight. He says that what finally prompted him to correspond with the committee was that he saw the welcome from many quarters to news that 58 CCTV cameras are being installed in Navan. His first reaction, however, was to ask what sort of a town must have 58 CCTV cameras watching it. He asks if that is where we are as a community and a society. I hope we are not going to replace badly needed visible human interaction with CCTV cameras. We need to make sure we are putting the human resources into our communities, not just to keep them safe but also to give the people that sense of human interaction. I am calling for that debate because it is not simply a matter for the Garda Commissioner. The resources start in the Department of Justice and with making sure we allocate those resources, and that debate needs to happen.