An Garda Síochána: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-13 ============================================================ Gareth Scahill (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach I will be sharing time with Senator Joe O'Reilly. The Minister of State is welcome. I echo the sentiments of previous speakers regarding our respect for the job An Garda Síochána does. An Garda Síochána was founded on the vision of Michael Staines, the first Commissioner, that the force would succeed through moral authority as servants of the people. As has been mentioned, we should be very proud of the fact that our gardaí police by consent. That has been their ethos ever since the force was established back in 1922. This means gardaí rely on public approval, trust and moral authority rather than armed force. That is something we should all be very proud of. Previous speakers have mentioned many of the points made in this Private Members' motion but I will reiterate the main point, which is that new policies should be developed to penalise individuals who target members of An Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces online. We need to be fairly specific that this includes both the perpetrators and the antagonists because quite a few people online say things that instigate these situations. We really have to stand up for members of An Garda Síochána, support them and legislate properly to protect them. That is why I welcome that particular element of the motion. I will also highlight something a number of other people have said regarding the upcoming pay negotiations. I personally do not feel An Garda Síochána should be involved in the public sector pay talks. It should be treated as a separate unit because of the job its members do. Ninety members of An Garda Síochána have been killed in the line of duty. Very few other sectors can say that. I will take a moment to recognise Detective Garda John Morley and Garda Henry Byrne from my hometown station in Castlerea in Roscommon, who were both shot down on 7 July 1980, and Detective Colm Horkan, who was killed more recently, on 17 June 2020. While negotiating, we also need to look at the model of policing in this country. We all see the numbers coming out of Templemore and where they are going. They are going towards the urban centres because that is where the model sees a need for them. However, I believe we need a two-tier model. We need a different model for rural Ireland because gardaí are being asked to police rural areas in the same way as urban areas. That model is not working. I wish Commissioner Justin Kelly the very best. He is one of the Garda's own. He is seen as somebody who understands the role. I give this motion my full support. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-13/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-13