Noel O'Donovan (Fine Gael)

I rise today to put on record my appreciation and that of the west Cork community for the efforts of An Garda Síochána, our Naval Service, the Defence Forces and the Revenue Commissioners on the seizure of more than €30 million worth of drugs off Courtmacsherry yesterday morning. The community there is in shock, although delighted about the seizure. We are aware that the seizure is the tip of the iceberg of what comes in to our coast. This highlights the need for an increase in garda numbers in rural areas, although there have been increases in Garda funding in recent years and a commitment to increase the number of gardaí by 5,000 in the programme for Government.

I commend the work of the Minister for justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, on tackling the issues in Dublin. We all see more gardaí on the streets of Dublin and other cities, but in rural parts of the country, in our one-man stations, we need to see increases. The garda figure for west Cork is between 600 and 650 approximately, which is the same as in 2015 and 2016. We have provided for increases in respect of the services of An Garda Síochána, including protective services, and the force has become more professional in how it carries out its business, which is great, but this is taken from front-line policing. Therefore, we need to have a conversation about front-line policing in our rural communities as well as our cities.

Again, I thank An Garda Síochána. The members of our security forces who went out in the early hours of yesterday morning put their lives at risk. Thankfully, there were no lives lost or injuries and there was a successful outcome. I appreciate the work of the security forces but a wider debate is needed on the policing of our rural communities.