In 2016, EUROSTAT reported that Ireland has one of the lowest police to population ratios in Europe, with 278 gardaí per 100,000 citizens. That is 40 less than the EU average of 318 per 100,000. Since these 2016 figures were compiled, Ireland is reported to have increased its population to over 5.1 million people as of April 2022. A recent report based on Garda website figures and freedom of information requests shows the Garda to population ratio to be 241 gardaí per 100,000 of population. That is another reduction of some 38 gardaí per 100,000 of population. In recent weeks and months there have been daily headlines such as: "Revealed: the 42 garda stations without any full-time officer". Another headline stated:

Garda morale is at a low as a ‘culture of fear’ pervades the force. One in three of the officers who left last year resigned rather than retiring on age, health or other grounds.

We used to have a problem in not having enough patrol cars but now we do not have enough gardaí to drive them. We read such headlines every day.

Some 450 gardaí left the force last year and the Taoiseach's statement to Deputy McDonald yesterday was that there was enough funding in place for garda retirements and resignations to be taken care of. However, there are only 89 gardaí in training. Was the Taoiseach's statement yesterday accurate? Deputy Varadkar has been in government since 2017, either as Taoiseach or Tánaiste, and the declining numbers are a crisis. Every town in the country is showing signs of this failing. There is no point in setting up drugs task forces or committees to make recommendations that cannot be implemented because the gardaí are not available. There is no point in passing laws to address these issues either.

This same recruitment and retention crisis exists across many of our Government Departments, all of which are getting worse. If money is not the issue, we need to look at the structure and management of same. I asked the Taoiseach last week to review the reason garda transfers were taking so long and he was quite flippant in his response. My information is that gardaí who are driving five hours per day to serve active duty are ready to resign from the force. While I welcome the announcement from Commissioner Drew Harris that the Garda will conduct exit interviews from now on, it is akin to closing the stable door when the horse has bolted. If you listen to any of the representative organisations or associations, the problems are well pronounced, but it seems that no one in charge is listening. Can the Taoiseach give details of what long-term plan is in place to ensure garda numbers grow with the population and are retained in line with European norms?

It is the objective of the Government to build safer and stronger communities. In order to do so, we need more gardaí and we need to properly train and support them. We also need to invest in our Defence Forces, the Courts Service and the Irish Prison Service. I appreciate that gardaí are working hard, they are under a lot of pressure and their jobs are much more challenging than they would have been in the past for lots of different reasons. We need to increase the number of gardaí we have. In the budget we allocated enough money to recruit 1,000 new gardaí this year. That has to take account of the fact that there will be retirements, as there always are, and that there will be resignations, as there always are. However, it will still be enough to see a net increase in the number of gardaí this year, and that is what we expect and anticipate will happen. There was a slowdown in recruitment due to the restrictions brought in due to Covid and we will now see recruitment speed up. That is happening already. I met the Garda Commissioner about this before Christmas and I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Harris, about it as well.

In any comparisons we make, we have to bear in mind that the Garda does not just consist of sworn officers but that there are also Garda staff. Increasingly, we have Garda staff being employed and they are freeing up gardaí for front-line duties, which is of particular importance. The number of gardaí in the country fell to about 12,000 back in 2015 and that was after a period of austerity and retrenchment. By the end of last year it had gone up to 14,000 but I appreciate that is in the context of a rising population and we have to adjust for that, not just when it suits us but for all metrics. Our target is to get up to 15,000 gardaí.

On resignations, roughly 100 gardaí resigned from the force last year, which is roughly a 1% resignation rate. We live in a different world from the one we had five, ten or 15 years ago. Now it is typical in an organisation to see resignation rates of 5% or 6%. We have full employment and people are less interested in the job for life so a 1% resignation rate is not particularly high, either by international standards or when you compare it with other organisations. However, exit interviews are useful and I am glad they will happen.

On transfers, I am sorry if I did not answer the Deputy's question appropriately last week. I do not know the detail of that particular issue but if she wants to give me some more information on it, I would be happy to take it up with the Minister, Deputy Harris, who can then talk to the Commissioner about it.

I appreciate that. While 100 resignations may reflect only 1%, the reality is that if the job was good enough I am not sure we would have any resignations. We need to carry out the exit interviews immediately and we also need to listen to the representative organisations. In County Wexford, Rosslare has seen increased and exponential growth because of Brexit. We have 550,000 passengers coming through the port. In 2022, we had 200,000 freight units come through. However, we have seen no increase in resources, despite numerous business plans being put forward by the hierarchy in the force in Wexford. We have seen a 75% reduction in gardaí in Courtown - from four gardaí to one - even though it has seen population growth. Bunclody is a sizable town, although it is not a town as named in Wexford. It is a big area, but we have reduced capacity in the Garda force there from eight to four. It is not good enough. We have drug issues all over this country. It is not just Wexford but it is all over the country. The front of our local newspaper carries a story every week on the increase in crime. I ask the Taoiseach to take that in hand.

I assure the Deputy that I will take it in hand and it is a priority for me as Taoiseach and for this Government to build safer and stronger communities. That involves increasing the number of gardaí and investing in our Defence Forces, the Courts Service and the Irish Prison Service.

It also involves dealing with the underlying causes of crime which are very much linked to poverty and deprivation, and other matters too. We are making a priority of this. As I mentioned earlier, the Garda is funded in the budget to recruit 1,000 gardaí this year. We believe this will be more than enough to cover retirements and resignations. That will lead to a net increase in the number of gardaí this year as we move towards the target of 15,000. Only this week, I will be having a meeting on the issue of Garda stations. A number of projects have been held up for far too long in different places in the country and we are trying to get movement on them as well.