Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I thank him for being here. I know what a strong advocate he is. He first introduced me to the Fianna Fáil Party when he was holding a meeting on rural crime. It gives me a great opportunity to speak about keeping communities safe while also focusing on the rural issues. No different to Senator Scahill, one of the biggest issues in east Galway is our strategic location. We are on the bridge of the Shannon. Portumna is on the bridge, so our entry point is on the bridge but the other entry to the constituency is through Banagher and the other exit point is at Killaloe. We are surrounded by the Shannon but none of the bridge crossings have CCTV because Galway County Council cannot agree who will take ownership or who will man it and what the position is regarding GDPR. It is past time for GDPR and sharing dual access between the local authority and An Garda Síochána to be addressed. For too long, we have been ravaged by the gangs which come down the motorways, breaching Ballinasloe or who come through Gort if they are coming from Cork. If they are coming from the east, they will come in at Nenagh. They come across, circle and come out again. They will never be glimpsed. The population in the south of east Galway is around 40,000 but the Garda station, which is opened 24-7, is based in Gort. It is 40 minutes away from the bridge at Portumna, 50 minutes from the bridge at Banagher and 30 minutes from Killaloe. If a car is out on a night when the four gardaí are based in Gort, there is no second car because the Garda station cannot be left unmanned. I will not say it for the purpose of anyone who might benefit, but there will be a number of nights in any given week where there is no second Garda station open in the constituency. Not only are CCTV cameras needed but also more gardaí and not just replacing those who are retired. They need more high-powered vehicles so they can do their jobs.

On youth and intervention, there is a fantastic programme called Planet Youth in Galway. It is all about early intervention around drinking and substance abuse.It has been rolled out by the HSE in conjunction with An Garda Síochána. We need to share more of the information coming back from schools in order that we can work collaboratively with An Garda Síochána, the HSE, teachers, parents and young people on early intervention. If there is early intervention in regard to drugs and alcohol use, we will prevent addiction and the cost of rehabilitation further along the line. Early intervention initiatives, including the Planet Youth programme, must be stepped up and stood out. The information must be shared more with parents, who, as well as teachers, need to have a clear understanding of what percentage of children are engaging in substance abuse.

In 2017 or 2018, we opened a new regional Garda station in Murrough, where people can train to use guns and there is also a kennel. We have never put a dog in the kennel. The drug detection dog has never landed in Galway. We borrow the dog from Cork when we need to do a raid. The last dog the gardaí got really could not be trained. We still, after eight years, have not achieved our purpose of having a detection dog in the west of Ireland. We borrow the dog to do a raid. I know it sounds farcical. It goes back to early intervention. If we had a drug detection dog in Galway, we could go into the schools, do the talks and do the early detections. The dog could be walked up and down when people are queuing to go into whatever pub or disco it might be in Galway. It could be used as a deterrent, not as a means of trying to prosecute. I was really delighted to see the reference in the programme for Government to training more dogs. I would like to see a dog arrive in the west of Ireland.

We need an understanding as to what is the number of detections of heroin in Galway city. We do not have a statistic on that at this time.