Garda numbers are continuing to decline. They have declined every month for the past 12 months. As she set out, the Minister's plan to deal with this decline was to recruit five different intake classes of 200. That has been a failure. The February intake was 135. The May intake was 154. Many of those being offered places at the Garda College are not taking them up. This is a serious crisis, one that will not be resolved by the measures the Minister has outlined. I understand, and the Minister has told us, that the…

We are failing in that.

We had a debate on housing just before these questions. The simple message is that if the strategy is not working, as it patently is not in terms of Garda recruitment, one has to do something different. The Minister’s ambition was to have 1,000 additional gardaí trained this year. We are halfway through the year and she tells us we have 370 in training. Her target is not going to be reached. That is a simple fact. We will have a further decline. My colleague, Mr. Peter Horgan, tells me that Garda numbers in Cork ci…

But the Government is not.

This question was tabled by my colleague, Deputy Ó Ríordáin. It is asking when a particular Garda station will be built, which is an issue he has raised on numerous occasions.

I thank the Minister for her reply. However, the point of the question was to obtain a timeline for the project. Much of the Garda estate across the country needs refurbishment or replacement to ensure we are able to attract new gardaí and ensure the falling numbers in the Garda Síochána have decent accommodation and decent places to work. We waited a long time for a decent Garda station in Wexford. It is transformative when there is a brand new station in a locality. One of the things we did when we had little mon…

I understand bundles do not always work but when they do, it means we have five or six major stations being developed at the same time. There are economies arising from that. Is it possible to set out a timeline, even in general terms, for the expected completion of Garda stations? If the Minister has €50 million in capital spending a year and is looking for more, can she set out even an outline of ambition for which Garda stations are a priority sequentially in order that communities would have some expectation an…

Deputy Farrell would be arrested if he did that.

I am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Ó Ríordáin. In July of last year, the Minister announced that she was going to introduce legislation to put the Irish Prison Service on a statutory basis. When will this legislation be introduced?

I thank the Minister for a comprehensive reply. For most of us it would seem a bit odd that such a significant service as the Irish Prison Service is not a statutory agency like most other analogous institutions in the State. The Irish Prison Service has 3,500 staff and a budget of €400 million. It is a very significant and important agency. Obviously we can debate the Minister's proposals when they are published and brought before us here. Prison and the structure of prisons and penal policy in this country are ex…

Again I thank the Minister. I want to ask a question about the structure of the prison system in this country. I understand that there are 12 designated prisons. Is it the Minister's intention to have additional prisons, to enlarge any of the existing prisons or to close any of the existing prisons as part of the reform package she is going to advance?

Will the Oberstown facility come within the remit of the Prison Service?

Behind closed doors.

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak briefly in advance of the upcoming European Council meeting. Clearly, the first and major item that will be discussed in the formal sessions is the awful conflict in Ukraine, and I imagine en marge even more detailed briefings will be given to members, having regard to the illegal attack on a sovereign state by Russia and the evolving situation there, particularly what has happened over the weekend. I imagine even in the next couple of days that situation might well fundame…

The case in relation to this amendment has been very well made by learned colleagues. I will speak briefly on the procedural issues involved. In recent years, we have spent a long time changing the way we prepare legislation. We have done so because legislation is so important and impacts on everybody, particularly legislation that impacts on data and people's data which are particularly precious. We are now told data are the most valuable commodity in the world, more valuable as a commodity than oil. We have a pre…

That is because the public did not see it. Nobody outside the Seanad saw it when it was introduced.

That is not the way laws should be made.

You should be Minister.

Then it should be brought through the normal process. Let anybody who has concerns about it be heard. The bottom line is any impactive legislation suggested by any State agency is processed by a Government Department and promulgated as a Bill. The committee Deputy Lawless chairs would take submissions from anybody who wants and hold hearings from anybody so that all their questions can be answered. If it is simply rubberstamped tonight it means those questions are unanswered except by a script that says it will be …

It is contemptuous of the Dáil.