The Taoiseach stated there were not enough gardaí in Dublin to combat the violence we saw on Sandwith Street. The Minister may recollect he stated funding was in place to recruit an additional 1,000 members, but that is incorrect. If the Taoiseach checked, he would see that only 288 people entered Templemore this year. He should do the maths on that. The Garda Representative Association, GRA, has stated that numbers are decreasing and members of the Garda are resigning. Many feel burnt out, demoralised and lacking in support. Other gardaí are reported as saying the Taoiseach's remarks demonstrated a lack of knowledge and that he was trying to deflect from the housing issue. The Taoiseach and members of the Garda are at odds. Does the Minister concede he will miss his recruitment target and after a decade of Fine Gael Ministers responsible for justice, will he put a plan in place to bring Garda numbers to safe levels for communities, gardaí and vulnerable people?

I do not concede that at all, because we are seeing Garda numbers grow through Templemore. This will be the first year since the Covid pandemic that we will see Garda numbers increase. We will see more new Garda members than gardaí leaving the force. We saw more than 90 trainees enter Templemore in November and more than 130 enter Templemore earlier this year. We saw more than 155 trainees enter Templemore this week and 53 others say they would like a place this year, but they would like to go in later in the year. When one takes that in the round, it is more than 400 new trainee gardaí. We will keep working on those numbers and I assure the Deputy the Taoiseach is absolutely committed to driving this agenda.