Clonburris strategic development zone, SDZ, in my constituency will provide 11,000 homes when it is completed. The development is well under way. Hundreds of homes have been completed. Thousands are either under construction or planning permission has been granted in respect of them. As part of the SDZ framework, infrastructure, including transport provision, was heralded as a key feature. The community in Clonburris is expanding rapidly. Dublin Mid-West one of the constituencies in the country where the population is growing rapidly. Traffic volumes on the R136, the N4 and the N7 are already characterised by high levels of congestion. We have already discussed the need for and importance of the DART+ South West project to help to alleviate that congestion. In the interim, however, people living in Clonburris need access to bus stops and specific bus routes.

I have engaged with the National Transport Authority, NTA, on this matter. It is important that we ensure access to new routes for people in Clonburris in order that they will not just be obliged to use routes in Lucan and Clondalkin that are already under pressure. I ask for the Taoiseach's support in the context of engaging with the NTA in respect of this issue.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know he has been particularly strong on the DART+ South West project and the need to have it greenlighted. He has, more or less, been successful in achieving the latter. I will support the Deputy's dialogue with the NTA. I have made the point that, generally speaking, there has been a great deal of negotiation, dialogue and engagement with residential groups across the country, particularly in Dublin and Cork, in respect of BusConnects. This has created a lot of challenges. Given the fact that the NTA is a State agency, there needs to be a constant, robust mechanism for engagement with communities, because some of these proposals are not landing well. Different age cohorts have different responses to how BusConnects manifests itself in the context of, for example, safety and so on. I have made that point to the NTA. It has improved in many areas regarding its consultations with communities. As the services are being rolled out, some communities do not feel they are getting what was envisaged.

The tragic deaths of Mary Holt and Tadhg Farrell in an arson attack caused profound shock and concern across the community of Edenderry and beyond before Christmas. As the investigation continues, I have met with many members of the local community who want the opening hours of the Garda station to be extended and increased visibility of gardaí on the ground in the town. Last week, 168 new gardaí were attested. However, just two of these new officers were appointed to the Laois-Offaly division. Both were assigned to Portlaoise Garda station.

I have constructively engaged with the Minister for justice and with the local gardaí. If we are going to apply adequate resources to Edenderry, it cannot result in an adverse impact on other parts of the county or across the division. Will the Taoiseach engage with the Commission in order to ensure that in the context of the next attestation later in the year, Edenderry will be specifically prioritised, particularly in view of the concerns that exist in the town.

I agree with the Deputy's condemnation of the horrific murder of Mary Holt and Tadhg Farrell. The savagery involved absolutely numbed people.

We are increasing throughput in Templemore. The Commissioner is taking a position of allocating substantial numbers to given locations. The first tranche was given to Dublin in order to increase visibility in a meaningful way, which happened. Cork and Limerick have now benefited. Instead of putting dribs and drabs of two or three here and there, the bulk have been allocated to the centres. That will happen gradually. There will be three more attestations this year. We have healthy numbers coming through, so we will be in a position to get to Edenderry and Laois-Offaly more generally. The policy in this regard is having an impact where it is being rolled out. However, I fully accept the frustrations of those locations which have not yet received the benefit of the increased number of gardaí being recruited.

To continue with that theme, as the Taoiseach knows, the report of the Policing and Community Safety Authority report at the end of last year the continuing failure of the Government to address Garda recruitment and retention and rural policing in particular. It identified serious risks to policing performance from staffing shortages due to missed recruitment targets and increasing pressures on gardaí. People I have talked to in rural areas of County Waterford are experiencing the sharpest impact. Too few gardaí are covering large areas. There is limited visibility on the ground. Gardaí have indicated that they the supports or resources to do their jobs. People across County Waterford refer to understaffed stations, empty stations and slow response times. We have had a number of violent incidents, particularly in towns and villages in west Waterford in recent months where response times were just too slow. People do not feel safe in their communities. We need to get to grips with this. People in places like Cappoquin, Clashmore, Tooraneena, Ballymacarbry, Kilmacthomas, Dungarvan and Ardmore tell me that they do not see a garda from one end of the week to the next. When are we going to get real about this and ensure that rural areas have the policing response that they need?

Seventeen extra gardaí have been recruited to Waterford since last August. The Minister visited Waterford and Dungarvan Garda stations recently and had good conversations with the chief superintendent, superintendents and gardaí more generally. People are seeing many more gardaí much more often now. The good news is that 215 trainees entered Templemore last Monday. That is the third intake in a row where the numbers have exceeded 200. Those candidates were all recruited from the 2024 and 2025 recruitment campaigns. We are on target. The Government is making progress on significantly increasing the number of gardaí in the force. That will continue.

I want to return to the case of Seamus Culleton, whose family hail from Glenmore in County Kilkenny. He has spent 20 years in Boston in the United States. I spoke to his wife, Tiffany, and his sister Caroline yesterday. They are deeply concerned about the length of time for which he has been detained and about the substandard conditions in the detention centre in El Paso. Why was he moved from New York to there? There are emerging financial difficulties because he is not working. Will the Taoiseach and the Minister for foreign affairs intervene immediately at the highest political level in order to get this man released? In November 2025, he was coming up on the last of his green card interviews. Obviously, he could not attend because he was being detained.

I thank the Deputy.

What consular assistance has been provided from September to date?

The Deputy's time is up.

I spoke to John Deasy, who would, maybe, have offered greater assistance.

We are concerned about the situation pertaining to Seamus Culleton. We fully accept people's concerns. I heard about the case yesterday. As I said earlier, our officials are engaging. The local consulate general in the US is engaging with ICE officials. We do not have the authority to interfere in the application of law but we do have the capacity to advocate strongly on behalf of our citizens to ensure that they are properly and humanely treated. We are conscious that this happened is in the middle of an application for status. We do not want to do anything that would undermine the securing of that status for Seamus Culleton. The Minister and the officials are engaging. They were meeting before I came in. I will have a further update when I leave here and I will see where we take it from there.