Fine Gael has pledged 6,000 extra gardaí, while Fianna Fáil have pledged to expand the force by 5,000 (file image)

FF, FG pledge more gardaí as SF focus on rural investment

15 Nov 2024, 06:32 by Paul Cunningham, https://www.facebook.com/rtenews/ · RTE.ie

Political parties will publish a range of policy papers on justice, health, transport, housing and tourism as the second week of general election campaigning gets under way today.

Party leaders will also be continuing their tours of the country.

Fine Gael will harden its position on law and order, unveiling a justice policy which includes providing all gardaí with facial recognition technology, as well as the nationwide roll-out of body cameras and the electronic tagging of sex offenders.

Party leader Simon Harris will campaign in Clare and Limerick.

Micheál Martin will canvass in Cork as the party pledges 5,000 more gardaí (file image)

The party will also legislate to give gardaí far reaching powers to obtain passwords for electronic devices of criminals.

Fine Gael is also expected to commit to recruiting 6,000 extra gardai, doubling the training allowance, and introducing a new allowance to incentivise gardaí to stay in the force for longer.

Combatting domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is said to remain its number one priority, and the party will create specialised judges if returned to government.

Fine Gael will also revise the law concerning the disclosure of counselling notes to ensure that victims can access therapy without fearing that their private records will be used against them.

Fianna Fáil will also focus on justice with a plan to expand An Garda Síochána by 5,000 members and establish a new transport police unit.

Party leader Micheál Martin will be canvassing with Aindrias Moynihan in Cork North West and Christopher O'Sullivan in Cork South West.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald will travel west and focus on rural investment (file image)

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald will visit Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo and Galway.

She will be focusing on investment in rural Ireland and maintaining the VAT rate at 9%, excluding hotels.

Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman will visit his candidates in Cork.

The party will publish its transport safety policies including introducing speeding fines based on the offenders' disposable income.

Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan will launch the party’s housing policy in Dublin while its healthcare vision will be unveiled by Róisín Shortall in Cork city.

People Before Profit will be concentrating on public transport, suggesting it needs to be free and frequent to get motorists out of cars and achieve emissions reductions.

Additional reporting Tommie Meskill