An Garda Síochána: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-13 ============================================================ Joe O'Reilly (FG), Labour Panel One of the greatest successes of our independent Irish State has been An Garda Síochána, an unarmed force that has won the respect of the communities it serves and that polices by moral authority. However, that is not to suggest that we do not have to take cognisance of recent developments in this country, such as recent riots, and to protect and support our gardaí in very difficult situations. That is why body cameras are to be welcomed and the point regard driving licences is very pertinent. I would like the Minister of State to address that. We have to look at every way in which we can protect members of An Garda Síochána and support them with armed support units and so on in riot situations. Pay has been mentioned. The pay needs to reflect the value we put on our gardaí. If we pay them well, people will want to join, which will deal with the numbers issue. I personally believe An Garda Síochána should have a presence. Members are well served by the AGSI, the GRA and the Association of Garda Superintendents. I would like to see the Garda having a presence in collective bargaining. Its members' voices should be heard there, along with every union. I would like the Minister of State to respond to that point. That does not preclude restrictions on arbitrary collective strikes but they should have a presence at the pay negotiations. There is also an issue with pensions for our gardaí. It relates to gardaí who have already served a full term. Thankfully, they are now allowed to serve a longer term, which is a welcome development. They normally go on serving for another ten years, give or take. That is good and they are well fit to do it and bring to the job great experience. However, when they are pensioned there is no reflection of those years. There is no extra recognition that they gave the State extra service. There is no extra recognition of the experience they brought to the force. I would like the Minister of State to address that point in his response. I think we should be doing something on that issue. The move to administration being dealt with by non-gardaí has been important. I would like the Minister of State to share the degree to which we have achieved that so we can get our gardaí into non-administrative roles and have the administrative roles taken by laypeople. We have advanced a good deal in that regard and I would like the Minister of State to elaborate and tell us if there are lacunas. Every garda is a community police person. That is the strength of the Garda. At the same time, designated community police people are very important for communities. They build bridges and relationships. I would like the Minister of State to let us know where we are with the following topic. Tragically, we need a very strong drugs unit at this time in the country. We need a number of young undercover gardaí to deal with substance abuse and the drugs that are all too prevalent in the smallest and most isolated villages around our country. We need to put numbers and resources in there. --- 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