I welcome Independent Ireland Councillor Noel Thomas who in the Visitors Gallery today, along with Kyle Lohan. Kyle is 16 and he is on transition year work placement. I thank him for all the work he has done for Independent Ireland at 16 years of age. He has knocked on every door in Galway in the previous by-election and every other election to date. I thank him and acknowledge him for that.

He is welcome to Dáil Éireann.

Today, I have to talk to the Taoiseach about An Garda Síochána and our new Garda station in Newcastle West.

The fears I am hearing from An Garda Síochána regarding our new station in Newcastle West is that there are not enough gardaí to put into it.

The Government's proposal is to get to 15,000 gardaí. To be honest, I think we need 15,000 more. We have a population now hitting 6 million and criminal levels are at an all-time high. In the parishes surrounding me, there were 16 robberies in two days and in the parishes adjoining them, 12 robberies were recorded in one place and 14 in another place, all of them done by criminal gangs. I was targeted last Friday when the keys of one vehicle, which were locked into a solid box, were taken, equipment worth €1,000 belonging to a carpenter was stolen and the lock was pulled off another van. We have the criminals, members of a well-known criminal gang, on CCTV, coming in and doing their work. They were gone within eight minutes.

Gardaí need cameras with registration recognition technology in places where there are criminal gangs. If cars belong to criminal gangs are in an area, the Garda would then be notified automatically. That can be done. We have had cameras turned off in Kilmallock and Croom for data protection reasons. People who are doing nothing wrong should not be worried about a camera that is there to protect good people against criminals. Repeat criminals are being brought to court multiple times and left off. There is no place to put them or hold them, so what does the Government do? It lets them back out and they do the same thing over and over again. Garda resources are being used to build a case against them and by the time the Garda builds a case, they are only given a slap on the wrist. It is a case of "Out you go to do it again" and within a week, they are in with gardaí again. It is a waste of resources.

I also welcome the young 16-year-old, Kyle Lohan, to the House. I commend his interest in politics, and I advise him to keep an open mind into the future-----

He is with the best party possible.

-----as I did when I was 16 years of age. He is welcome to the House.

Do not forget Councillor Noel Thomas.

The Taoiseach, without interruption, please.

Sure you might get him back.

This is a new device, where Deputies bring their aspiring candidates into the House to get them mentioned.

He is really one of yours.

He is indeed.

There has been very consistent recruitment of gardaí in the past two years. We had a significant setback during Covid, with the closure of Templemore and so on. However, we should reach about 15,000 in the near future. At the end of August, the figure was about 14,600 and we have had a further attestation of 207 recently. I think we will make the 15,000 figure by the end of the year. We then want to go higher than that because there are also retirements, which we acknowledge. There are about 3,616 additional Garda staff who work alongside the gardaí. That has enabled about 900 gardaí to be freed up for front-line duties. We have made changes to the Garda trainee recruitment process, through an increased recruitment age and training allowance, shortened recruitment timeframes and reform of the physical competency test, construction of the assessment centre, approaches to elements of recruitment and regular recruitment competitions. There is healthy interest in joining An Garda Síochána, which is positive.

As regards the Garda station, I presume the Deputy welcomes the investment into Newcastle West, which is significant. With this recruitment, we will be in a position to staff the station. The Commissioner has been progressively allocating additional gardaí, first to cities like Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and so on, and then to others. We have to get them out to rural Ireland, and the Minister for justice is very conscious of that. We will endeavour to get gardaí to west Limerick as well. We also note the passing of the late former Minister, Gerry Collins, who was a household name in Abbeyfeale and west Limerick more generally, and whose funeral is tomorrow. He was a former Minister for Justice. We are very conscious of the needs in the area.

On criminal gangs, I regret what has happened in the Deputy's own situation, which he has articulated to the House, as well as the other robberies he referenced. They will be convicted and will not be left out again if they are well-known criminal gangs. Gardaí use cameras and information provided by the public to prosecute these people. They need to be prosecuted and brought to justice.

I also extend my sympathies to the family of former Minister, Gerry Collins, who will be laid to rest tomorrow in Abbeyfeale. I acknowledge everyone in politics and the contributions they make.

We had a justice Minister in County Limerick, which covers east and west Limerick. All the criminal gangs know to target rural areas. All the Garda presence, as the Taoiseach just mentioned, is being put into Dublin city, Cork city and Limerick city. It is almost an hour and 40 minutes from one end of my constituency to the other. That is how far it is. We need Garda resources because criminals now know it is easy pickings. I welcome the Garda resources, the technology and the extra recruitment of gardaí, but the Government needs to stop putting all the gardaí into the cities. When you have a lot of people in one area, you can maintain them in it. However, in scattered places in rural Ireland, including rural Limerick, we deserve the same protection as people have in the cities. I would like to see that change.

There are gardaí being provided to rural Ireland, and there will be more allocated to rural Ireland as we continue to ramp up and get recruits into and out of Templemore in the time period.

We are also investing in prisons, with close to €500 million. We want to create about 1,500 more spaces and we need to do this by 2031. It is the largest ever building programme in the prison estate. Some people are objecting to it but we have to drive ahead. The Deputy is correct in respect of the need. If someone is convicted, they do their time. That has to be the objective.

In respect of technology, this Government has provided the technology required by An Garda Síochána. The previous Government had a different composition and others did not agree with giving gardaí the technology they needed to identify and convict criminals. As far as this Government is concerned, we will provide the technology and resources to procure that technology to An Garda Síochána because we have to stand behind it in facing up to this criminal element.