Mr. Martin Callinan:

I thank the Deputy. I want to assure him that there will be no withdrawal of services on my watch and anyone who says differently is very much misinformed.

I have already dealt with consultation with the public but in the context of our own members, my clear strategy from the outset, from my office at the centre down onto the ground, was to ask chief superintendents and superintendents in divisions and districts to talk to their members and come up with a list of stations they deemed suitable for recommendation for closure. It is those lists and the collateral that I explained already for forming those recommendations that came back to me and the central committee examining that matter.

I have heard previously about people not being informed internally. As far as I am concerned, I can only send the word down the line and I expect that that dialogue and discussion went on. I know for a fact that in some cases but not in all - I cannot be everywhere but I have made it my business to inquire - some of the representatives on associations locally were consulted as part of the process bringing that back up to me. It would be folly in the extreme for me as Commissioner to sit down and look at the list of about 700 Garda stations, tick off areas and say that this can go or that can go. One cannot do that. One must have a rationale for making the type of decisions we have made and as far as I am concerned, that is what has been happening. We are very close to finalising those recommendations and they will be with the Minister shortly.

I have heard the stories the Deputy has heard but I want to assure him that no one will be blind-sided on any of this but there is a difference between making hard, cold decisions given the harsh economic realities facing us and having the type of discussion that has been spoken about. Where this whole process will be critical is when the decision is made to sit down with the communities and the JPCs and to provide the level of reassurance I spoke about earlier. However, I assure the Deputy that where stations have been opened for an hour or two on whatever day and whatever the services provided, that will continue in some form. The station may not be there but we intend to go back to the community, whether it is the post office, a community hall or wherever, and provide that type of service for that period of time on those designated days and beyond that providing the type of visibility I have espoused earlier to be effective and to try to police those areas. It is not the case that we are abandoning anyone. I assure the Deputy that will never occur.