Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss this all-important issue. As he is aware, I live in the centre of Limerick city. I have seen a lot of things happening in the city centre over the years. In December 2023, the Department of Justice and the local gardaí in Henry Street set up Operation Táirge, whereby they worked with businesses to combat retail crime. That type of crime has been raised by many people in the Chamber. It was found at the time that pilfering and shoplifting cost retailers €1.62 million each year. People working in businesses need to feel safe from this type of criminality. Much has been done to date, including the launch last year of the use by gardaí of bodycams and new cars with AI technology that can detect a lot of what is going on down the road. We need an expansion of the use of cameras and CCTV. The issue of the GDPR has been raised but that is something behind which many places are hiding.

Limerick city centre is no different from any other city centre in that there is a lot of on-street begging and large numbers of people going down alleyways to deal or shoot up drugs. Many of the streets off the main street become areas where people congregate to deal drugs, especially if there are alleyways or any set-back areas behind houses. We need more gardaí on our streets to tackle this issue. While the gardaí in Limerick have been very successful in the number of convictions they have secured, we still need more gardaí to support that effort. Reference was made to gardaí retiring. I welcome the increase in the number of Garda recruits going to Templemore and the number of gardaí coming out the other end. However, it is about retention and making sure gardaí stay in their jobs. Location was raised by a previous speaker. Sometimes, people want to move close to their home. We need to look at ways of incentivising gardaí and keeping them on our streets. We must ensure they are able to carry out their job.

I pay tribute to the gardaí in Limerick, led by Chief Superintendent Smart, including the various superintendents, inspectors and sergeants. They do an absolutely fantastic job but they are sometimes stretched to the limit between having to go to court, take prisoners on a transfer run or whatever it might be. Sometimes, that means there are not enough gardaí on the street. When a business owner rings the Garda station because somebody has attempted to rob the premises or has robbed it, or people contact gardaí because they have witnessed a drug deal going on in the street, there is sometimes no garda to respond to those calls. While consideration is being given to the provision of an extra Garda station for Limerick in Castletroy, we need to increase Garda numbers to support the existing structure as well as the new structure that is to come on stream.

There have been many successful programmes such as the youth diversion programme. I am chairperson of a community centre in one of the most socioeconomically deprived areas in Limerick. On a daily basis, a number of issues are brought to us whereby people have been subject to criminality or have witnessed things going on in their community that make them very afraid. People have the right not only to feel safe in the city centre and in whatever business they enter but also in their own home and locality. We must go back to having more community gardaí on the street. I remember a time in Ballinacurra Weston, which is the area in which I am involved, when gardaí used to be out playing soccer with local youths on the green. That created a relationship between the youths and the gardaí. We need to look at ways of incentivising initiatives to create a relationship between youths and the Garda. It does not matter where people are from; anybody could end up being targeted or brought into a gang. Having more community gardaí on our streets will be to the benefit of communities.