Cabinet Committees Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16 ============================================================ Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central It was four for the county and 28 for the city. That is good. I take the Deputy's point. The towns he mentioned are large, including Athenry, Gort and so on. Deputy Cleere gave us a strong sense of the towns in Kilkenny. I take the point. Rural Ireland has its unique crime issues and people feel vulnerable if there is a sense that there is not a sufficient Garda presence. It is a budget priority to continue the momentum in terms of Garda recruitment for 2027. Deputy O'Sullivan made an interesting point on the migration question. He essentially said there should be better follow-up in terms of deportations. In 2025, about 4,700 deportation orders were signed, an increase of 96% compared to 2024. Up to 24 July, 2,650 deportation orders had been signed this year. The number of deportation orders signed to 4 September 2026 has increased by 12% on 2025. In 2025, 2,111 people departed from the State under various mechanisms. I will speak to the Minister in respect of the voluntary return issue. It is a more effective and efficient way of doing it because deportations are significant in themselves. There has been an increase of about 80% in the number of deportations that have occurred compared to 2024. The Deputy's fundamental point is that we know the figures. People have nothing to live on if they hang around, and therefore there is an incentive to move on. I will speak to the Minister about tightening up the number of voluntary deportations. There has been a sea-change in the number of deportation orders that have been signed and planes have taken off with people on them. We have to have a firm and fair migration system and people have to know that the rules are enforced. There is a faster application process. We are speeding up the appeals process. The asylum pact is working. Migration numbers generally are down about 40% this year across Europe. A lot of Deputies opposite voted against the European Union asylum and migration pact. It is working and is effective, in particular in terms of returns. In response to Deputy Brabazon, the Minister indicated a commitment to changing legislation in respect of gardaí so that they would not lose their driving licence in the course of doing their duties or have their lives undermined by being dragged before the courts in the line of duty. That is a significant issue that the Minister is pursuing. Pursuit is dangerous and that is why gardaí need training. I acknowledge we need far more training than is in place. It is not today or yesterday that gardaí have been aware of these issues in terms of pursuing people. It is very dangerous because it can lead to further accidents and deaths. The training will happen. Further protocols are required. Deputy Shane Moynihan referred on Leaders' Questions to technology being deployed effectively. That is also very important. The Minister is considering a change in the law in respect of what Deputy Brabazon said in respect of protecting gardaí. I dealt with Deputy Cleere's issue in terms of better geographic spread around the country. Kilkenny is keen----- --- 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/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-16