Where is the Bill?

I refer to the criminal procedure Bill. When the Taoiseach was recently in the constituency of my colleague, Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, I think he told community leaders he was tough on crime and on the causes of crime, which has always been my own policy, even before the Blairites coined the phrase. However, given a recent series of horrendous events during the storm and ongoing serious civil disturbances in my constituency, is it not the case that the Taoiseach is denying An Garda Síochána the level of resources it needs, and is it not therefore the reality that for many communities in this city the Taoiseach is actually soft on crime?

I have just come from the Seanad, where I have engaged with Senators on a debate on precisely this issue, and I would be happy to do so with Deputy Broughan if he were to raise the matter by way of Topical Issue. In the meantime-----

I have raised a Topical Issue on the matter.

-----I assure Deputy Broughan that the increased resources available to the Garda Síochána now ensure we have in excess of 150 more gardaí on the streets of Dublin than we had two years ago, and this will continue. Next week we will see a further 200 new gardaí come out of the Garda College in Templemore, which was closed for quite some time but which has now been reopened and resourced. I expect many of these new gardaí will be stationed throughout the city of Dublin. I keep in regular contact with the Garda Commissioner on this issue and, in fact, spoke last week to the deputy Garda commissioner about the issue of resources for the Dublin metropolitan area. I would be happy to engage with Deputy Broughan by way of a more lengthy debate if the time were to permit.