Garda recruitment is an issue that keeps cropping up. I want to talk specifically about community gardaí and the need for extra resources in that area.

I know the Minister visited west Cork recently. In my constituency, the Clonakilty community garda covers an area which includes Clonakilty, Dunmanway and Skibbereen. That is a huge geographical area. The same can be said for the Bandon area, where the Minister visited. That is a massive geographical area and the scale of the work they do is absolutely incredible. Recently, I met the community garda in Bandon. She was in a school I was visiting and she was doing incredible work in informing kids about the dangers of online abuse and potential exploitation online. It is extraordinarily important work and they need to be supported. They need extra resources. There needs to be at least two community gardaí in big geographical areas like this. Is that something the Minister can look into?

First, I commend the work of An Garda Síochána. I particularly wish to commend the work of community gardaí. They provide vital support within communities. We saw how important their work is throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular visiting people and looking after those who are more vulnerable. I refer to the day-to-day work they do in supporting organisations, committees and in dealing with issues like antisocial behaviour. They are the people to whom you can pick up the phone to call if an issue arises. We all wish to see more community gardaí. The way to achieve that is through having more gardaí overall. That is one of my highest objectives in the Department. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of measures are being put in place to make sure we can recruit more gardaí, as well as retain the ones we have. The fact that 6,400 people applied last year alone, on top of the 5,000 people who applied in the previous year, shows it is a role which people want.

Part of the new operational model is in making sure we have community policing teams in all of the various operating areas. We need to populate them with additional gardaí. The overall objective is that every area will have a specific garda who people know and to whom people can pick up the phone to ring on any community-based issue. That is the overall objective but it will take time to get to that point.