Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

I wish to raise an incident that happened in Newcastle West in County Limerick last weekend. Vile videos were sent to me of fighting on the streets between two different groups. They were absolutely disgusting to watch. People were being kicked in the face while they were on the ground. One person was knocked out, jumped on and punched about 20 times while he was knocked out. This happened on the street parallel to the Garda station. I do not know if it is a lack of gardaí. The gardaí in Newcastle West are phenomenal. They work so hard but they cover an area of more than 2,700 sq. km. There are two 24-hour Garda stations to cover the entire place. There are eight Garda stations in areas surrounding Newcastle West but the majority of them are open for one hour on a Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m, and there is one that opens from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. We all know it is in the evening time and at night when this kind of stuff kicks off. From what I have heard, it started in a pub and was pushed out into the street. I would love the Minister to come in to discuss Garda numbers in our rural towns and villages. I keep hearing we need to get more gardaí into the cities but our rural towns and villages really need support. Our gardaí need support, including from administrators in Garda stations taking the calls that are coming in. We need extra gardaí and more patrol cars.