James Heffernan (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for attending the Chamber and facilitating this debate. Tomorrow, the Garda station in Kilfinane, my home town, will close its doors for the last time. I wish to put on record the community's praise for and thanks to Niall McInerney, our local garda, for his service for the past number of years. Along with Kilfinane, the stations in Galbally, Castletown, Kilmeady and Tournafulla will close their doors for the last time.

I am disappointed by this decision and the way it was announced. The Minister for Justice and Equality tried to sweep it under a difficult budget and hoped that it would go unnoticed. It was a sneaky move.

I do not understand the reasoning behind the decision. For example, ¤75,000 was recently spent on renovating Galbally Garda station. In my home town, a site had recently been acquired for a new state-of-the-art station. I do not have an iota of a clue as to what has changed since then. The Minister of State has spent time with communities.

Therefore, she has been being involved with them. She knows that decision will be a confidence blow to rural communities whose members are struggling in the current climate. If one walks up the main street of any small town, one will note that businesses are under pressure, some have closed down and buildings have been left unoccupied. This move will make the elderly and those who live in isolated areas feel much more vulnerable. It is a blow to the morale of the members of the Garda, whose morale is already at a pretty low ebb. The only winners in all of this are the likes of the two shysters that I followed from Kilfinane to Ballyorgan the other day after getting a tip-off from a neighbour that these men were on their way under the guise of cleaning garden paths for a good price and clearing gutters. I never saw people come to clear gutters without a ladder and they did not have one. I got the number that was given and like any good citizen I telephoned my local Garda station and gave the garda on duty the number. When I travelled back the road and called into my neighbours, a number of whom live alone, to see if they were okay, one old woman in particular who lives a few houses up from me, was terrified when I knocked on her door because she thought these men had come back again.

If I was to telephone my local garda in Kilfinane and say "Niall, these guys are on the beat, can you come and sort it out", he would have been there in a matter of moments but now he has been moved somewhere else down the road and I have to call a central station and they will send out a patrol car. The Minister of State may know the area stretching from Bruff to the borders of County Cork in Kildorrery and now by the time it will take a garda to come out to my area, those men will be gone to the hills, never to be seen again.

I am told by some people and by members of the Garda Síochána that it cost approximately ¤2,000 a year to run these stations and cover the cost of heating and lighting. If one takes into account the five stations in County Limerick, it would cost ¤10,000 a year to run them. That is the price of a secondhand car and such provision would give local people confidence and a sense of safety in their homes.

I do not know what is the contingency plan and what is going to be left. We will have imposing buildings in small towns that will be vacated and become a haven for rats, for anti-social behaviour. I do not understand what consultation was carried out. Was there consultation in the Department with the senior Minister? I was assured last year when this move was first mooted that a number of these stations would not be closed but now they being closed.

Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)
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The Senator has one minute remaining.

James Heffernan (Labour)
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I will conclude shortly. It is just that I am annoyed about this.

Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)
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I know but the Senator will have time to ask a supplementary question. He has been speaking for nearly five minutes.

James Heffernan (Labour)
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I will not delay the House much longer. Was this decision made by a Minister who does not have a clue about what is happening in rural Ireland, who is so detached from the realities of what is going on there that he does not give a damn? He seems to have made this decision so flippantly that this is what it leads me to believe. Has the Minister ever been to these communities to see what is going on? I do not believe he has.

Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)
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I ask the Senator to conclude.

James Heffernan (Labour)
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I await the Minister of State's reply and I thank her for being here.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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On behalf of the Minister I would like to again express our deep sadness at the brutal murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe. It is an opportunity also to express our deep gratitude to the Garda Síochána. It is only when a tragic event like this occurs that we realise the difficulties they face and the risks they take on our behalf every day. This was unusual but nevertheless the consequences are enormous for Detective Garda Donohoe's family and our deepest sympathies go to his immediate family and his wife and children who will feel his loss more than anyone else.

The Minister has asked me to thank the Senator for raising this matter of significant public importance as it provides me with an opportunity to set out in clear and unambiguous terms the rationalisation of the Garda station and districts network. In 2012, 39 Garda stations were closed, eight of which had not been open for a number of years. Their closure was a paper exercise which simply recognised reality, a reality concealed by the Minister's immediate predecessor. Many more were only one or two-member stations. This year, following a comprehensive assessment by the Garda Commissioner of the Garda station network, a further 100 are listed for closure in the Commissioner's Policing Plan for 2013. Prior to the closures which took place last year, the Garda station network was essentially the same as the Royal Irish Constabulary network in 1922. Such a large-scale static deployment of resources is no longer appropriate in the present day where the transport and communications infrastructure have been transformed beyond recognition. The Garda Síochána has a class-leading police computer system, a state-of-the-art digital radio system, and a transport fleet which is currently receiving significant investment. The new Garda roster currently being piloted provides a better match between Garda availability and policing demands.

All of these developments enable the Garda Síochána to be more mobile and flexible, and to deliver a more effective policing service. We also must be honest about the level of policing service that was capable of being provided from the stations that were and are to be closed. Of the 100 stations to be closed in 2013, 98% are open part-time, 94% are open for three hours a day or less, 88% are served by one garda, and only 5% are served by three or more Garda personnel. The objective is to maximise the time our well-trained and highly skilled gardaí spend on operational duties.

After the closures in 2013 - the majority of those to close will close on 31 January 2013 - there will still be 564 Garda stations in the State. That is still significantly more than in comparable jurisdictions such as Northern Ireland, where there are 86 stations with a population of 1.5 million people, or Scotland, where there are approximately 340 stations for a population of 5.2 million. Are the naysayers seriously suggesting that we should act as if time had stood still since 1922?

Commissioner Callinan has stated that the revised structures will continue to support the Garda community philosophy through the clustering of services at policing hubs. This centralisation of services will facilitate the introduction of enhanced patrolling arrangements which in turn will provide increased Garda visibility as well as maintaining existing Garda links with communities throughout the country. The objective will be to ensure that the best possible policing service will continue to be provided to our communities.

In addition, An Garda Síochána has recently acquired a number of vehicles which are being converted into mobile Garda offices and it is planned that they will be assigned to areas where Garda stations have been closed to ensure that members of the public can continue to conduct their business and interact with members of An Garda Síochána. Gardaí continue to work closely with all communities to enhance community safety through a wide range of local fora such as Community Alert and Neighbourhood Watch. Neither the Minister nor this Government will shirk in our responsibility to do everything we can to ensure that the connection with the community is not broken and that the best possible resources are made available to An Garda Síochána. The Minister is confident that members of An Garda Síochána will continue to provide a professional policing service across the country in a manner that is effective, efficient and consistent with the highest standards for which the force is renowned.

James Heffernan (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for her reply but I do not believe that she believes what is in that reply. We all know that times have changed but how can we possibly maximise a garda's time by taking him or her from the station in a local community where he or she was doing a job among people he or she knew and putting him or her in another station a few miles down the road? How is that a maximum use of his or her time?

Policing has not changed. It relies on good, solid information and that can only be got from knowing the people one is working with in a community, knowing their families and everything about them. A garda involved in a local area knows the people in that area inside out. He or she can stop crime before it ever becomes an issue. I cannot understand how we can maintain a strong connection with the community by closing down rural Garda stations. It does not make sense.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Policing has changed and good police work has changed dramatically and significantly, and for the better.

To say it has not does a disservice to the Garda. The mechanisms by which the force gathers information have changed and the service cannot continue as it is without taking a serious look at how best to use a talented and well trained police force. There will be difficulties and it is not as if the force will not change in the future. Perhaps alterations need to be made and that will be taken into account but this is not being done on a whim by one person. This is very much a process on which there has been massive consultation and the Commissioner believes this is the best way to proceed. Communications and mobility have improved and all these factors must be taken into account. We cannot ignore the significant innovations that have taken place in all our lives. Innovations have been adapted to suit the needs of our police force.