Dublin West has seen a significant increase in population but Garda numbers have not kept pace. Limerick has a similar population size to that of Dublin West but it has three Garda stations and three times the number of gardaí. There has been a surge in criminal activity and antisocial behaviour in Dublin 15 recently. A key starting point was a double murder on Christmas Eve in Blanchardstown village. Since then, things have further escalated, with over 13 houses damaged by petrol bombs thrown in a targeted way. The homes of many innocent families were completely destroyed. Children and teenagers on scramblers operate with impunity, putting themselves and others at risk of serious injury or, worse, death.

I commend gardaí who are working in very difficult circumstances. I have met many constituents, business owners and youth and community activists who have all said the same thing, namely, that they rarely see gardaí on the streets in our communities building networks and relationships. As I said, this is not the fault of gardaí. I will pre-empt the Minister's answer and guess that he will mention it is the operational responsibility of Drew Harris to allocate resources. However, it is the Government's political responsibility to ensure our communities are safe.

I thank Deputy Donnelly. He pre-empted my response because it is the truth. It is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner to decide on the allocation of resources. I am not sure if a Sinn Féin Government would propose a different way, whereby the Government would decide where gardaí go. The Garda Commissioner will do so. We accept our responsibility, which is to increase Garda numbers. That is why we have a series of recruitment campaigns. This year, 6,300 people applied to join An Garda Síochána. We have increased the Garda training allowance by two-thirds and the age of entry has been increased to 50. We will shortly enact legislation to increase the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 62. In addition, we have commenced a recruitment campaign for the Garda Reserve to complement the work of fully qualified gardaí. We are increasing Garda numbers. We know more needs to be done, but progress is being made.