Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am so sorry. It is good to clarify the target for recruits and the figures that have been mentioned. Roughly 450 recruits are in active training and there is a target of achieving 700 to 800 recruits by the end of the year. There will be two extra classes towards the end of the year. There are 470 in active training and 100 new gardaí have attested. That is already 570 new gardaí. We appear to be on target to reach the figure of between 700 and 800 new gardaí by the end of the year.

The points raised by previous speakers relate to the long pause in recruitment during Covid. It is critical that these classes will bring in more recruits. The Government wants to support gardaí. The life of a garda can be challenging, particularly the shift work and the impact that has on family life. The Minister is looking at ways to equip gardaí with the tools to carry out policing in today's world.She spoke in the House yesterday when we discussed the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022 about legislation she would bring forward around how to reduce the time gardaí will have to spend in courts, for example, so that they can spend more time on the street. At the moment, particularly in rural areas, members of An Garda Síochána's time is taken up with having to attend courts. This is of course crucial to everything we do around the law but we need to look at smarter ways of using time. In my constituency, it takes an hour and a half to get from one end to the other by car at a time when there is not a lot of traffic. For gardaí who have to travel distances to court cases, this again uses up their time travelling, never mind the time spent in the court itself. The Minister is looking at ways to use more modern systems. She has talked about digitalisation but also about how we can support gardaí in maximising their participation in courts while also making sure they are available on the ground, particularly in rural areas.

I was particularly interested in the community CCTV scheme. The Minister has mentioned this in her motion around safety in community areas. In rural areas, it is really important that we support our estates in our towns and that people walking around our towns feel safe. However, that CCTV scheme has to be in line with the general data protection regulation, GDPR, requirements here. We have to look at who is holding the data, be it the local authority or the Garda Síochána branches in our local towns. In doing things like this, hopefully we will be able to monitor, supervise, and provide that element of safety to people living in estates that currently are seeing antisocial behaviour. Our gardaí are in Garda stations all across our towns and villages. They are working day and night to provide that level of protection. The fleet numbers are crucial to do that in rural areas. Having access to cars, other vehicles, and vans is absolutely crucial. I am aware the Minister has spoken about that as well.

The Minister of State, Deputy Brown, will have a chance to speak on this in his response but it is very clear that there is joined-up Government thinking about how we are going to surmount the difficulties we are seeing when it comes to the impact of drugs and addiction in our society. Will the Minister comment on how the Department of Justice is working with the Department of Health to provide addiction services in towns across Ireland? I highlight the fact that we have people presenting with high levels of addiction and aggressive behaviour in our hospitals and emergency departments. How are the two Departments working together to manage the level of aggression and violence our healthcare personnel face on a daily basis? It is absolutely crucial that funding for these supports for addiction and counselling services are provided. In my own town of Ballinasloe, we had St. Brigid's Hospital, which was a psychiatric institution but it also provided acute supports for people suffering from addiction. Currently, these supports do not exist unless a person has a primary diagnosis from mental health services. The Department of Justice has a role here to work on a joined-up Government strategy with the Department of Health around providing access to those services.

Probation will be the first port of call when we have young people who get involved with crime coming through the legal system here. How are we supporting access to those support services around addiction, as opposed to people ending up in prison and developing even worse addictions? We need to have those services in place. What are the Minister of State's thoughts on engagement between Departments in providing some of these services?

The other part we mentioned was around the rural areas as well. For me, on the joint policing committee in Roscommon, it is has been really important to see how they are using the automatic number plate recognition, ANPR, technology and how that has been brought in. These are all measures that have been brought in under the Minister and the Department for Justice with this Government to support ongoing actions by An Garda Síochána to deliver and do their job effectively. These are no small changes to how gardaí do their daily job but they will support them, particularly the body-worn camera equipment. If the Minister can come back to me on some of those points, I would really appreciate it.