Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Senator Duffy. We will take five minutes each, if that is agreeable. The Minister is very welcome to the Chamber. He has now been here two weeks in a row, which is a good start. You cannot talk about community safety or crime without first acknowledging the service our gardaí provide right across the country. In our jobs, we deal with them on a weekly basis. We know the sacrifices they and their families make for them to carry out the work they do. We have family members, friends and neighbours who play that really important role. When we talk about community drive, we should talk about it in a positive sense. There are challenges in every job, and in the job of our gardaí more than most, but that role can be really fulfilling. That is important to say.

The Minister talked about different types of crime. In Tipperary, there are three types of crime that happen quite a lot and that cause great distress and frustration for communities. One of these rural crimes is violence, particularly in the robbery of farm equipment and machinery. It happens to people in rural areas who are in a vulnerable situation as they are not close to neighbours and friends. In Clonmel two or three years ago, a young farmer came home to his farm and people were on site robbing machinery and equipment. He tried to intervene in some way and was severely injured. We can be thankful that he has now recovered. Only a couple of days later, a meeting was held in the community hall. Over 600 people attended because of the fear people have of what can happen.These people sped off, drove up the motorway and were not found again. That is a common occurrence. It does not always happen that a farm owner gets injured but that potential is always there and that is where the fear comes from, that they are often on their own and in a vulnerable situation.

The other thing that happens in Tipperary quite a lot is theft - shop crime, where people rob from shops. That this happens on a regular basis is a huge financial burden on shops and it also causes huge intimidation and fear among the staff who work there. Only a couple of weeks ago, two women working in a small shop in a rural town in Tipperary were confronted by armed robbers who robbed the place. Luckily the two women were not injured but they were traumatised. In fairness, local gardaí responded extremely quickly and actually apprehended the people and they will go through the court process, which is a really good outcome. That fear is there. Talking to shop owners right across the county of Tipperary that happens on a daily and weekly basis and robbery is at an all time high.

The third thing, which is quite common, is the sale of drugs right in a town centre on a main street. The Minister said in his contribution that visibility of gardaí is one of the things that keeps being brought up with us as public representatives, and I completely agree with him. I also agree with his narrative that when people talk about visibility of gardaí that means there is trust in the gardaí but people want to see more of them. We see such obvious signs of drug taking and drug selling on the main streets of places such as Clomnel and other towns across Tipperary, and that is not the way it was 20 or 25 years ago.

Obviously we need more gardaí and recruitment is important. The Minister said there are 14,100 gardaí. That is not enough but we need to remember that only ten years ago, we only had 12,500 gardaí so it has increased. When people talk about gardaí retiring, there are new people coming in. This is important for me because Templemore is in Tipperary. Every 11 or 12 weeks I see an average of 200 new gardaí coming through the system, all proud of the fact they are able to serve their country.

Recruitment is a challenge. We made a commitment in the programme for Government to get 5,000 new gardaí. We are at a stage in this country, which is very positive, that we have full employment. That makes getting more gardaí a challenge. What is the Minister's plan to do that?

My final question is about the capacity of prisons. With an increasing population we need more prison spaces, and more prisons. What is the long-term objective? I know Thornton Hall is one but in general, what is the long-term objective in terms of prison spaces?