Sharon Keogan warns of law-and-order crisis and Garda shortages

Minister, very welcome into the chamber and thank you for joining us today to talk about community safety. We are here today to talk about what is one of the most under-acknowledged crises in the nation, the crisis of law and order. For many Irish people across the country, the feeling is that policing is virtually non-existent, criminality is allowed to run free and that justice for victims is a distant ideal for regular people. At the core of this issue is the critical understaffing of on Gardaí Siocona. Many communities across Ireland now find themselves with virtually no Gardaí presence, particularly smaller rural communities. Even in Dublin, the forces stretched thin, trying to deal with the rising levels of offences, with many stories of Gardaí taking over an hour to respond to incidents of violent assault. Minister, we also need to be realistic and truthful to the public and how we record crime according to nationality. For too long, our government has been obfuscating any links between crime and the origins of the criminals. Plans were announced in 2022 for the recording of nationality to be considered. I would ask the Minister to tell us what became of these considerations. Across Europe, many other national police forces have been allowed to record this data and have subsequently studied these questions in order. This has allowed raw data to inform the conversations and decision-making of other EU nations. The data would suggest allowing unvetted potential criminals to come and go as they please, as the current government does, is not conducive to community safety. At the same time, we are also having to deal with the new generation of cartelised drug gangs, who are increasingly operating with these countries across porous borders using Ireland as a drug import hub for Europe. I would like to take the opportunity to praise the Trojan work being undertaken by Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland and his team in stepping up seizures and combating organised crime in our country. However, it is worrying that the scale and the numbers of seizures and arrests only ever seem to increase. Unfortunately, I believe that Detective Boland, like many Gardaí, is fighting an uphill battle. Year in, year out, the successive governments of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael seem to think it is acceptable to throw open the borders and then to sit on their hands while our police force hemorrhage numbers. Last week, we were told that it is expected 1,640 Gardaí will be eligible to retire in the coming five years. Meanwhile, in the past two years, only 1,304 entered Templemore Colleges, with only a little over 800 being sworn in. This is not considering the 500 who left the force last year alone. And who can blame them for wanting to go? As the force numbers dwindle and the crime rates soar, the working life of those Gardaí who choose to stay on becomes even more miserable and toxic. Overworked and under-supported, we are now stuck in a vicious circle where each Gardaí who leaves creates more incentive for the rest to go. And what is the Government going to do to address this question? Are they talking about seriously improving the pay packets of our police force to better compensate them for their hard work? No, instead, we find that the Government is trying to somehow close the gap by banding about proposals for facial recognition laws. Ultimately, the Government appears to be an intent on straying into very dangerous and even totalitarian waters, violating our citizens' rights to privacy, and yet at the same time does not seem intent on even paying for the police force they intend to uphold such a project. Although here, unbelievably, I have to credit the Government for at least being somewhat more realistic than certain members of the Opposition who have been proposing that we put special anonymous knife surrender bins at the disposal of would-be stabbers. An approach we have seen totally failed in England since its introduction more than 20 years ago. At least the Government appears a little more imaginative and original with its impossible ideas of how to reduce crime without paying police a decent wage and pension. If the Minister wishes to make concrete improvements to security surveillance in this country, I am happy to suggest concrete improvements that could be made today. For example, improving surveillance by having the data controllers permit the usage of number plate recognition in the CCTV systems currently available in many towns and cities nationwide, instead of solely using number plate recognition software to dole out speeding tickets on the motorways or taking money off people in high-end car parks. The Minister could also make immediate improvements in the exact same area by ordering the chief executives of the local authorities to be the data controllers of their local CCTV systems. Unfortunately, many CEOs are unwilling to take up the burden and the Minister can and must step in and force the CEOs to step up. Speaking of aimless and confused projects, I would also like to take the opportunity to raise the issue of Thornton Hall and its future. Following the fiasco of numerous Government developments such as the Dublin Children's Hospital, I believe that many Irish taxpayers are justified in fearing that we will face yet another end of the rainbow scenario. In other words, the closer we get to the theatrical deadline of Thornton Hall, the further away it will get from us. While wasted time will be one thing, we know well enough that the further the deadline recedes, the higher the final bill will be. Sadly, we are already beginning to see that in this case. A report in the Irish Times area this year showed that over 114,000 had already been spent over the past three years on an effectively empty site. This included 27,000 to repair boundary and perimeter security and 4,832 in water charges. But the final aggravation to this issue is now that the Government is not only failing to tell us what its plans to get things done, but now failing to tell us what is even planned to do with the site in the first place. Last year, we were told by the Department of Justice that the 30 acres of this site was to be earmarked to create a processing centre for asylum applicants. Knowing the scale of migration and asylum crisis, it is highly unlikely that these 30 acres would be enough. I understand that the contract was signed with the prison service for use of this land for two years. The contract was also signed in May 2024 by the Department of Children and Integration with the provider of on-site services and facilities for these international protection applicants. I have no doubt this contract is still in place despite plans on this site getting sidetracked. So Minister, maybe you might look into that waste of money as well. Additionally, we are also facing a crisis of overcrowding in our own prisons and sadly it looks like the new prison will need every acre we can get. Just today, the Irish Independent reported that over 300 prisoners are without beds, with some commentators believing that over 500 are sleeping on mattresses and floors. The issue has been so bad for so long that as far back as May last year, we had the Irish Prison Service going into talks with the Defence Forces to reopen the old military prison in the Curragh. Therefore, I ask you, Minister for Justice, who is with us today, to give us a timeline for the construction of the new prison at Thornton Hall and let us know how much of this site this department is willing to hand over to his colleagues at the Department of Children and Integration or are you taking that back or how do you intend to coordinate the construction project side by side with the Processing Centre. Times change and plans change, that is fine, but we are simply must have a plan in the first place. This style of slapdash improvisation, whether in the reinforcement of Anghartha Giacona, whether in the creation of the new security legislation or whether in the construction of a new prison facility, is unacceptable and not worthy of government. Minister, I actually believe that you will do really good things in this department. I have really good faith in you and I am looking forward to working alongside with you over the next couple of years. Thank you very much. Thank you.