My party is often described – with some justification – as the party of law and order. I am acutely aware of the concerns of rural Ireland about the perceived targeting of rural communities by criminal gangs. I want people to be able to go about their lives and their work in a safe environment, whether they live and work in a city, a town, a village or in the countryside.

I want a modern, well-resourced Garda Síochána that can respond to the demands of 21st century Ireland. Over the decades there have been calls for a root and branch reform of the gardaí. Fine Gael will be the party that delivers this major transformation. A Commission of national and international experts submits a major report to Government next September. We also established an independent policing authority, to oversee policing, promote trust and confidence and shape policing services. Crucially, we have re-opened Templemore. That college closed as a consequence of the catastrophic recession and garda numbers dwindled. I don’t need to tell anyone in rural Ireland why Ireland’s crash was so deep and so painful. Nor what it took to restore Ireland first to stability, then to growth.

When Fine Gael and Labour began steering the country into recovery during the last government, one of our first actions was to start recruiting gardaí. Since we reopened the Garda College in September 2014, 1,400 recruits have graduated. This coming year my Department will fund the recruitment of another 800 new gardaí and up to 500 civilian staff. Those civilians will play an important role in freeing up gardaí for frontline services and in supporting the garda reform programme. The five new classes coming out of Templemore this year have seen Garda numbers increase to over 13,500 by year end. Taking retirements into account, that’s an increase of 500 since the end of last year. The Government plans to achieve an overall garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021, comprising 15,000 garda members, 2,000 reserve members and 4,000 civilians. Alongside this personnel recruitment, 720 new garda vehicles have come on stream since the start of 2015 to ensure that gardaí have the ability to respond quickly when they are needed.

I know that theft and burglaries are a real concern. Operation Thor is an important part of our response. It has resulted in more than 92,000 targeted checkpoints nationwide and over 6,100 arrests connected to offences including burglary, handling stolen property, possession of firearms, and drug offences. These have come as a result of 30,000 searches, 72,000 patrols and 80,000 intelligence reports. Operation Thor has particularly targeted mobile gangs. Since it was launched in November 2015, overall burglary figures have been going down – by 30% in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015.

Right now, gardaí support over 3,700 Community Alert and Neighbourhood Watch Schemes nationwide, a network of important partnerships to prevent crime and protect communities. The garda text alert scheme also provides an effective means for gardaí to communicate crime prevention information to local communities. Since it was launched four years ago, it has grown quickly, with a total of 164,000 subscribers and around 3m text messages sent annually.

We’ve introduced new laws which send out a clear message to thieves: you will pay a high price if you commit a crime in this country. I want to assure you that protecting our people will continue to be a core value. On my watch, fighting crime, wherever it may be, continues to be my main priority.