Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Peter 'Chap' Cleere (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

Everyone has the right to be safe and to feel safe in their homes and communities. Across the country, communities are dealing with the scourge of crime and antisocial behaviour. The Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities and significant funding has been put into resourcing An Garda Síochána. There has been an additional €500 million over the last five years. As the Taoiseach said, by the end of this year, for the first time ever, we will have about 15,000 gardaí serving the State. It will be the highest figure since the foundation of the State. I want to see a greater geographical spread of the new resources that are coming on board. Two attestations will take place towards the end of the year. While I welcome the additional gardaí who have been stationed in Cork, Dublin and Limerick, I would like to see a greater geographical spread around the country, in particular, in my constituency. People who live in rural Ireland want to feel safe every bit as much as people living in the cities. I look at stations in places like Graiguenamanagh, Goresbridge, Thomastown, across to Bennetsbridge, down to Callan and Mooncoin and over to Borris and Bagenalstown. We need additional gardaí in all these places because people are telling me they want to see gardaí with their boots on, on the street, on the beat and engaging with the community. We have put fantastic resources into the Garda but we just need a greater geographical spread. I implore the Taoiseach to use his influence to try to get a greater rural spread with the additional gardaí.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16