An Garda Síochána: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-13 ============================================================ Dee Ryan (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber. I thank our Fine Gael colleagues for bringing forward this motion, which I wholeheartedly support. I thank them for this opportunity to discuss matters as they pertain to the Garda and recognise the strong and good work that is being done right across the country, and, in particular, to recognise the work and innovation that I see in the Garda force in Limerick. I congratulate everyone involved on the success of the high-visibility policing initiative that came to Limerick in March. It has increased the visibility of gardaí on our streets throughout the day, in the evening and through the night. I am hearing positive comments from business owners, people coming to the city to shop, people coming to the city to socialise and people who live in the city centre. There is a huge sense of added security and safety when you come into Limerick city centre. I congratulate everyone involved on the success of the initiative. I thank the Minister for upholding a commitment by both parties in the programme for Government to increase the visibility of gardaí in our city centres and urban centres. The reports are that it not just improving public confidence but is also acting as a strong deterrent to antisocial behaviour and criminality. In fact, the success of the initiative is, if anything, increasing the demand we have been seeing anyhow in the east of Limerick in Castletroy for our own Garda station in Castletroy and that increased visibility in the area. I know that being a Limerick man the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, is well aware that Castletroy is one of the fastest growing urban centres in the country. It has a major student population during term time. It is the site of two business parks with a number of people going in to work there daily. During term time it is estimated that the population of Castletroy is 40,000 people and yet it does not have its own Garda station. Castletroy is covered from Castleconnell by the Garda station there, which covers from Castleconnell all the way right into the city and the city limits. In my view and in the view of many public representatives and Fianna Fáil councillors in the area, it is long overdue. A commitment was made in the previous Government and the OPW was requested to identify a site that would be a suitable location. Could the Minister of State possibly seek an update for us on that selection? The people of Castletroy, Monaleen and Annacotty deserve that visible permanent Garda presence in our community and I urge the Minister of State to advocate for us on that. There is a lot of positivity and innovation in Limerick and in the force to highlight. I want to name three projects. There is the body-worn camera pilot, which Limerick is proud to be involved in together with Dublin and Waterford. Feedback from members of An Garda Síochána themselves is that it is making an impact in their interactions with people in their job. They report that once the cameras are switched on there is a screen underneath the camera that displays to the person they are talking to what the garda is recording. People know they are being recorded and it helps to de-escalate situations, to improve behaviour and to change the tone of engagement straight away. In that respect it is perceived to be a huge success already. In Limerick we are proud that we were the first in the country to secure a conviction in the courts using body-worn camera footage so congratulations to everybody involved in that. I strongly support the Minister's ambition to roll out body-worn cameras to every front-line garda across the country. The second innovation I want to highlight is the community access support team initiative, which is the CAST pilot programme. I have spoken about it in this House many times, as has my colleague, Senator Maria Byrne. It is something we are very proud of in Limerick. It is a pioneering initiative that places gardaí and mental health professionals in the same squad car. When a 999 call comes in and a response is sent out it means that a more diverse response is enabled with the CAST team. In other words, a policing response is not always the most appropriate response in some particular situations, for example in some domestic violence incidents or where people are having a moment of mental health crisis. To have that mental health professional in the car to be able to assist in de-escalating the situation, and crucially, for them to be able to go back and follow up in the days after the initial crisis moment, has in the view of the Garda in Limerick and the HSE in Limerick not only significantly reduced presentations to the hospital in UHL but also has been instrumental in saving lives. I commend everybody involved in that, especially Superintendent Andrew Lacey who really drove the project for us in Limerick. Councillor Cillian Keane in Galway West is calling for it to be implemented in Galway. Will the Minister of State get an update for us on when this initiative will move from pilot phase to be assessed and considered for roll-out across the country? I would also like to make a call out for the CCTV camera and security monitoring facility in the Moyross Community Enterprise Centre. It is a crucial piece of policing infrastructure in Limerick. It has kind of fallen between two stools in the last year. It was initially part of the regeneration funding in Limerick. It has live feeds from 400 cameras right across the county. It is used daily by the Garda. We do need a commitment for it to be funded fully by the Department of justice in this year's budget. --- 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