The Minister for Justice has said she considers any act of burglary "an absolutely heinous crime" but insisted that gardaí are winning the battle against such criminal activity.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Seán O'Rourke, Frances Fitzgerald said that her determination to stamp out such crime was the very reason she introduced the Criminal Justice Burglary Bill after consulting with front-line gardaí.
The minister said the bill has since been passed which means serial offenders are given tougher sentences and first-time offenders are being redirected into rehabilitation programmes.
She defended the record of Operation Thor, stating there has been a reduction in burglary rates since its implementation.
She said the closure of the Garda training centre in Templemore had a direct impact on the rise in burglaries but now that this facility is open again, Garda recruitment has began once more and this will help combat the issue of crime.
Ms Fitzgerald predicted that "it will take the lifetime of the next government" to build the number of gardaí back up to the required level of 14,000 gardaí.
The minister said the battle against crime, including terrorism and cybercrime, is an ongoing challenge but that the Government is putting in the resources to make sure that it can win that battle.
On the issue of terrorism, Ms Fitzgerald noted that there was historically a huge amount of skill in fighting terrorism on this island and, while she was sure extra resources will be needed to fight the threat of Isis, she believed Ireland was up to the fight.
She added that the threat of terrorism is of the highest priority for the gardaí.
In relation to the GSOC controversy, Ms Fitzgerald said she believed in the protection of journalist sources and there was no evidence that GSOC did not apply the same principle.
In relation to accessing phone records, the Minister said that this had to be where there was investigation of criminal activity and that access to phone records is a basic investigative tool.
She said that she had asked for an investigation to take place to see if higher standards of protection needed to be applied.
Hear Minister Fitzgerald's interview on Today with Seán O'Rourke in full below...
