Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will offer a brief reply. The work done by the administrative staff is now freeing up members of the force. I do not have an immediate statistic for the Deputy of the number of other members of the force who could be freed if we recruited more civilian staff. From my knowledge of visiting Garda stations I know there is still work done by members of the force that could be done by civilian staff if it were possible to recruit additional individuals to the civilian side. There is no funding available to expand in that way. In the years to come there would be benefits to be gained by bringing in additional civilian staff and freeing uniformed members to a greater extent.

Substantial progress has been made in that context.