Last year, I asked the Tánaiste, who was then Taoiseach, to intervene personally to address Garda numbers in Kildare and Laois. Unfortunately, we are back here again. On Wednesday, 21 December, there was a serious issue where a garda was needed. Nobody answered the phone initially and then no car was available to attend from the nearest station. In January, there was an attempted child abduction in the constituency. A female garda was on her own and, again, there was no Garda car. Then, on 7 February, the Garda was called over an incident late at night and, again, no Garda car was available. All these issues relate to the same station and I can supply details if the Tánaiste requires.

This is rural Ireland. It is a disgrace. The Garda numbers must be addressed and proper recruitment and resources dealt with so that people will feel safe in their homes and on the street. Equally, our gardaí must be looked after. Surely we cannot think it is okay to have one garda on her own in a station when somebody rings in with an incident in the current climate. Can I please have the issues addressed urgently?

The Government is very conscious of the need to expand the numbers in An Garda Síochána. We have provided funding for 1,000 new gardaí this year and we are seeing more Garda recruits enter Templemore every 11 weeks. The Garda Commissioner, obviously, is responsible for the deployment of gardaí operationally and the Minister for Justice engages regularly with him to monitor resources in any given area and to deliver on the target. The total number who completed or began training last year was almost 500, and a further recruitment campaign, which will be launched, will ensure a pipeline of suitable candidates. Over 14,000 sworn members are currently working in the Garda organisation. Obviously, there were issues during Covid with training and so on, but the recruitment campaign is ongoing and the funding is there in respect of recruiting a substantially higher number of gardaí.