Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue matter this evening. This is my second time in about a month to secure a debate with regard to Garda numbers in Roscommon and Galway. The falling number of gardaí is an issue I have raised consistently in this House, especially since January when we have had a spate of burglaries. They have been happening more or less all year long and are still sadly happening. I raised these issues with the Minister for Justice, the chief superintendent in my Garda division and the Garda Commissioner. Unfortunately, the Garda Commissioner does not respond, and the Minister said that Garda allocations are a matter for the Garda Commissioner, which I understand.

In the last month alone, I have attended a protest in Castlerea in County Roscommon by the newly formed Enough is Enough campaign group, which I commend. I then attended a public meeting held by the same group in Glinsk in County Galway on the same issue. On Sunday evening last, I attended a vigil in my home town of Ballaghaderreen. That vigil was about sending a message to the Government and the Garda Commission that we need more gardaí and we need to see them out on the beat.

When it comes to Garda numbers, figures can be deceiving. For example, in July last, I received a reply from the Minister advising me that there were eight gardaí in Ballaghaderreen Garda station. This week, I was advised there are four gardaí and one sergeant, a cut of almost half in less than four months. If there were five gardaí in Ballaghaderreen who were based in the town and out and about and visible, I would not be using the town as an example here this evening. In fact, if there were five gardaí in Ballaghaderreen, people would be happy enough if they were out and about and visible in the town but, unfortunately, they are not. As I always say when I raise issues concerning the Garda, this is not the fault of gardaí, who are under incredible pressure and stretched. This is not their fault. It is important to say that.

I have put it to the Garda Commissioner and the chief superintendent that we need a specific Garda plan for rural areas. The Government should support that proposal. Irrespective of who is in government in the new year, when the next Garda Commissioner is appointed he or she should come into office without a commitment that there will be a specific plan made for rural areas.

As the Minister of State will be aware, living in a rural area can mean living in a village or town where the Garda station has been closed. It can certainly mean living in a town where Garda numbers are down, as they are in all parts of my constituency of Roscommon and Galway. In County Roscommon alone, pre-Covid we had 171 gardaí, while today we have 146. The numbers are down. To live in a rural area can mean living in an isolated place or a village where you do not have immediate access to gardaí. The way of life is very different from that in our cities. That is why we need a specific Garda plan to focus on Garda allocations in our rural towns and villages.

I understand that approximately 167 gardaí are due to pass out of Templemore College in December. We need to see a number of those gardaí coming west. People are afraid. It is a great shame, in this day and age, that anyone would be afraid in their own home. I am thinking in particular of older people who live on their own. The fear they feel going to bed at night is one they should never have but the reality on the ground is that we simply do not have enough gardaí. I ask for the support of the Government and the Minister of State's party for a specific Garda plan for our rural areas.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Kerrane for raising this very important matter. I also convey the apologies of the Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McEntee.

As the Deputy will be aware, by law, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of Garda members and resources between the divisions and stations. The Commissioner is also responsible for operational policing, including policing plans. The Minister has no role and she cannot direct the Commissioner.

I assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities and strengthening An Garda Síochána is at the core of that. Budget 2025 provided the highest ever allocation to An Garda Síochána. The funding allows for the continued recruitment of Garda members and staff and that should allow the Garda Commissioner to ensure that an effective policing service can be delivered in our towns and villages. The Department of Justice takes the safety of people living and working in rural Ireland very seriously and recognises that preventing crime does not just mean putting gardaí on the beat.

Supporting the work of the national rural safety forum, the Department published the rural safety plan. A lot has been achieved in the life of the plan which recognises that rural safety and community safety is not a job for An Garda Síochána alone. It requires a multi-agency, multi-sectoral and whole-of-Government response. The plan’s vision is to ensure people and communities in rural Ireland feel safe and are safe in their homes, places of work and local environments. The national rural safety forum is working to publish the second rural safety plan next year.

Deputy Kerrane will also be interested to note that local community safety partnerships are beginning to come on stream this year after very successful pilot partnerships in Longford, Waterford city and county and Dublin’s north-inner city. Chairpersons were appointed to eight LCSPs. The partnerships will replace and expand upon the remit of joint policing committees by providing a forum for residents and community representatives, with the relevant State agencies. Each partnership will be required to develop and publish a local community safety plan to reflect and respond to the needs of that community.

Nobody knows what their community needs better than the people who live and work there.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. Of course, the Department of Justice recognises that preventing crime in rural areas does not just mean putting gardaí on the beat but there lies part of the problem because we do not have gardaí on the beat. If that is part of the solution, and only part, we do not have them. That is the problem. We do not see our gardaí. In towns such as Ballaghaderreen and villages such as Glinsk, people do not see gardaí. The Garda station in Ballaghaderreen is typically closed, yet, according to the Department of Justice and the figures, there are four gardaí and a sergeant allocated to the town. Part of the problem is the fact that Ballaghaderreen is in a huge divisional area. It is part of Castlerea and Boyle, which were amalgamated in 2012, something I have asked the Garda Commissioner to review. It is an area stretching a distance in excess of 67 km and I understand that at night there are two garda cars covering the area. That is impossible to do.

The fact of the matter is the number of gardaí is falling. The number of gardaí has fallen in County Roscommon and the part of east Galway I represent in the Roscommon-Galway constituency. People are in fear. There have been numerous burglaries, especially this year. People are really worried and afraid in their homes. If we saw gardaí out on the beat, it would make a huge difference. I often refer to a meeting I attended last year in a town in my constituency at which gardaí told us that although the town has the worst antisocial behaviour problem in the county, they could only offer us a Garda checkpoint by the roads policing unit. They told us they did not have gardaí to put on the beat in the town with the worst antisocial behaviour problem in the county.

This is a major issue. The solution is a Garda plan. I would like to hear whether the Minister of State's party would it support a rural Garda plan. That could be provided for the next Garda Commissioner and it is something all parties in the House should support.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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We have the rural safety plan up to 2024. There is a lot to go on and there is more to go on. We have achieved a lot and we need to achieve a lot more.

I know Ballaghaderreen well. My wife is from Sligo but Ballaghaderreen is her local town, so I know it only too well.

The Deputy may be interested to know that this week a focused Garda operation took place targeting on organised criminal group in connection with widespread burglaries in Mayo, Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath and Sligo. An investigation team was established within Sligo-Leitrim, Galway and the Mayo-Roscommon-Longford divisions to identify members of this organised criminal group and associate them to particular burglaries. Three arrests were subsequently made in the Dublin region this week and a number of vehicles were seized and technically examined. A quantity of cash, designer items and a Rolex watch, suspected to be the proceeds of crime, were also seized.

I fully agree that there needs to be a continued focus on the safety of people. Rural and urban areas have different characteristics and needs. People need to feel safe. We need to make sure we have an adequate number of gardaí. We have achieved a lot in terms of the budget for An Garda Síochána, which is the highest ever, but we need to make much more progress. I am certainly up for that challenge if the public decide to put me and my party back in Dáil Éireann.