I know we only have another week before recess. I ask that, when we come back in the autumn, we add to the agenda something about Garda numbers, particularly in rural areas. I refer especially to roads policing and community gardaí. Last Thursday, I received a phone call from a constituent in County Limerick who had been in a car accident. She was okay. There was not a huge amount of damage done. Like myself, she had always been told to stay at the scene of the accident and not to leave. When she rang An Garda Síochána, she was told it would be four or five hours before somebody could come out to her. The person on the phone recommended that she leave the scene and present at her nearest Garda station, which was the station in Newcastle West. When she arrived at the Garda station, she was told that she was the third person that day to have been told to leave the scene of an accident and report it to the Garda station. I imagine there could be implications as regards liability when gardaí do not come out to see the scene and give their own report. You are relying on somebody who goes in to say that the other person was responsible for the accident and on their account of what happened. There are going to be some issues down the line when these people are trying to get money back to repair their cars.

It comes down to Garda numbers. We have an amazing Garda station being built in Newcastle West at the moment,but local people tell me that they fear that there will not actually be any gardaí in it. They wonder whether it will just be a building or whether services will be provided in it. It cements these fears when people are told to leave the scene of an accident and present at a Garda station because there are not enough gardaí to get out on the roads to attend the scene. We can be thankful it was not a serious accident but I can only imagine what she would have done if the car was not driveable. Would she have had to sit there for five hours? I would like a debate in the House on Garda numbers.

In my last second, I will ask another question. I know extra Garda resources are needed for the EU Presidency. Are Garda resources being taken from rural Ireland for these meetings? I would like to be sure rural Ireland is not being given a lower priority when it comes to Garda numbers.