Mr. Martin Callinan:

As regards mobile telephones, the Deputy will be aware that we have invested heavily - to the tune of €40 million per annum - in a secure Tetra radio network. That has facilities for contacting the Garda information system, for example. It also provides a secure network for communicating with colleagues. Indeed, it has proven to be very useful in the past when members were under attack because there is an alarm button on it.

However, people have used mobile telephones of their own choice. Before we came to the full roll-out of the Tetra radio system, there may have been times when members might have been using their own telephones. However, that is a personal choice for members.