Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Acting Leader. The issue I wish to raise is that of policing, specifically Garda numbers and recruitment in Wicklow. Wicklow has seen a significant population increase, one that is probably far above the national average, yet we are seeing a decrease in our number of police. This is causing concern. There has been significant population growth in our major towns on the eastern and western sides of Wicklow. In Arklow, where we have just invested €149 million in a new wastewater treatment plant, we are about to see the development of housing for the first time in almost 20 years. The municipal district has written to the Garda over its concerns about the number of gardaí allocated to the Arklow division even before the resultant significant increase in population. This issue is reflective of what we are seeing across the country, in that there is no increase in Garda numbers. Rather, we are probably just holding steady. Wicklow has seen a 5% reduction in Garda numbers and an almost 10% increase in its population.

Front-line policing is where all of our hearts are. There are concerns about the amount of remodelling done in recent years and how resources have been reallocated. Wicklow has gone through a number of changes. We were first in with Dublin and bits of Kildare and Carlow. Then, Wicklow was on its own. Now, we are in the new Wicklow-Wexford division. Every time we go through a remodelling, we are told it will improve visibility on the ground and front-line policing, but no one can honestly say that we are witnessing such an increase. Wicklow is due to be remodelled again, this time within the county, on 26 March, and this is where my fear arises. The remodelling will be presented as not affecting front-line policing, but we all know that numbers will be moved around and front-line policing will suffer as a result. Be it at inspector level or gardaí on the ground, we need to ring-fence them for front-line policing as much as possible. We must stress the importance of front-line policing in our communities. Whenever there is a remodelling, it should not be presented to us as delivering better community policing when we know it will not.