Seanad debates
Thursday, 2 April 2015
Commencement Matters
Garda Deployment
10:30 am
Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I am glad that my commencement matter has been selected for today. I understand the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister of State are unavailable but at least I was told in advance. It is a pity they are not here because in the village of Duleek, County Meath, there is considerable fear and apprehension about the surge in the number of burglaries of premises and robberies that have taken place.In this year alone, 15 burglaries of houses and offices have been reported to the Garda Síochána and I am certain the number is higher. One was reported in January, one in February and 13 reported in March. This week alone there was a particular surge. The local youth café which was recently opened and only through the voluntary efforts of many in the local community, was burgled of its televisions and other equipment which had been generously donated and paid for by the local community through fund raising. Local businesses, including hairdressers, barber shops and pubs - there was a burglary last night in a local licensed premises - have been burgled and there is considerable fear and anxiety in the community. The gardaí do their best and we all have a good relationship with the local superintendent who does his best. However, we do not have a full-time Garda station. I have been asking for a full-time Garda station for a long time. The number of gardaí tend to vary between three and four for this village and clearly this is not sufficient. In my view the village is earmarked by criminals as somewhere gardaí are not present. The simple solution is to assign more gardaí to this area. Since the population boom and more people came to live in areas like Duleek and in east Meath in general, in my view, the Garda management has not recognised that fact. The number of gardaí has been static for many years. People will recall when there was a full-time Garda station there. Now there are easy pickings provided to these criminals by the motorway network and new houses where the residents are out all day.
I wish the Garda Síochána the best of luck but we are demanding more gardaí for Duleek. The people are demanding a full-time Garda station because that is the only thing that will put these people off doing their terrible acts.
Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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I am replying to this matter on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald.
The House will be aware that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, transport and other facilities throughout the organisation. The Minister has no function in the matter. This allocation of resources is constantly monitored by the Garda Commissioner and her senior management in the context of demographics, crime trends, policing needs and other operational strategies in place on a district,divisional and regional level, to ensure optimum use is made of Garda resources.
Duleek Garda station is in the Meath Garda division. The Minister is aware of concerns about incidents of burglary in rural Ireland and in particular its effects on the most vulnerable in our society, in particular, the elderly. The Minister finds it difficult to fathom how anyone could perpetrate such cowardly crimes against our elderly citizens. Operation Fiacla was set up to combat instances of burglary and related criminality. This operation has proven to be successful nationally, with several thousand arrests and prosecutions for burglary offences.
An Garda Síochána continues to work closely with communities through Community Alert, Neighbourhood Watch and other organisations, to provide expert crime prevention advice and support to communities. The Garda commitment to this approach was underlined in the new guidelines for communities wishing to set up community crime prevention schemes which were launched by the Commissioner and the then Minister for Justice and Equality in 2013. That work is ongoing with respect to the establishment and revitalisation, where appropriate, of a number of community alert schemes as part of overall crime prevention strategies. As I have stated, decisions relating to the provision and allocation of Garda resources, including personnel and vehicles, are a matter for the Garda Commissioner in light of her identified operational demands.
The Minister has been informed by the Commissioner's office that 278 gardaí are assigned to the Meath division, of whom four are assigned to Duleek Garda station which is a sub-district within the district of Ashbourne. When members attached to Duleek Garda station are not on duty, the sub-district is patrolled by gardaí from Laytown Garda station and assisted, as required by the district headquarters station at Ashbourne. Local Garda resources are augmented by the divisional traffic unit, community policing units, detective unit and the regional support unit, where necessary, to meet the service demand. Residents in Duleek are assured of a 24-hour response to calls for assistance. All non-999 or 112 calls are diverted to Ashbourne Garda station, which is open and manned on a 24-hour basis. All 999 or 112 calls are received at the divisional control room at Navan Garda station and passed to the appropriate patrols on duty.
Last September this Government oversaw the first recruitment of new gardaí since 2009. The Garda College was reopened for new recruitments and the Government is committed to not letting it close again. To date, 300 new recruits have entered the Garda College, with the first of these to join the force as sworn members in May. The Minister is happy to confirm that she has received sanction from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, for the recruitment of a further 250 new gardaí over the coming months. She promised seamless ongoing recruitment and she is delivering on this promise. The additional recruitment will bring to 550 the total number of gardaí that will have been recruited by this Government between September 2014 and October 2015. It signifies the determination of the Government and the Minister to deliver an effective, responsive police service to protect our communities.
Responsibility for the efficient deployment of Garda vehicles in each division is assigned to the divisional officer, who may allocate vehicles between stations, as required by operational circumstances. The Senator will appreciate that a degree of flexibility in allocating and re-allocating vehicles among stations is essential to the efficient management of the Garda fleet. The Minister recently secured a further €10 million for investment in the Garda fleet of which €7 million was made available in 2014. This funding brings the total investment in the Garda fleet in 2014 to €11 million. The remaining €3 million is being made available for the purchase and fit-out of additional Garda vehicles in 2015. In October 2014 an order was placed for 370 new vehicles. These vehicles were delivered towards the end of 2014 and following fit-out are being deployed in accordance with the Garda Commissioner's operational requirements. The Minister has been advised that the needs of the area referred to will be fully considered when new Garda vehicles are being allocated.
The Government, the Minister and the Garda Commissioner are committed to putting in place the necessary resources, systems and operations to support the effective delivery of the best possible policing and security services not just for Duleek and the Meath division but for all of our communities across the country.
Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister of State to inform the Minister of the details of the situation in County Meath. The Garda division based in Ashbourne covers the area from the Kilcock bridge on the Meath-Kildare border up to the outskirts of Drogheda, across to Laytown, including Stamullen and Duleek and almost over to Navan and including the Rathfeigh area. It also includes the busy N2 road which is also the scene of much crime. If there is a burglary or an incident down in Dunboyne, the gardaí from Laytown are driving down there to try to catch the criminals. The other night a shop was robbed in Dunshaughlin. The same people then drove up to Duleek. It seems to me that the gardaí are chasing around the place looking for these criminals. They are doing their very best and I fully support them but they need more support. It is not acceptable that a garda from Laytown must drive to Dunboyne. One would not ask a garda from Blanchardstown to drive to Drogheda but it is exactly the same distance. This situation needs to change.
There was a separate Garda division for east Meath to cover just Laytown, Duleek and Stamullen but this division was abolished under Commissioner Callinan when this Government came into office. This has left us in a hole because the east Meath area and in particular, Duleek, has not been able to fight for its own resources within the Garda Síochána. The inclusion of Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne and Laytown, in one area, is a disaster and this is being proven by the crime figures.