Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan:

As part of our internal Garda survey, we surveyed all members of An Garda Síochána including the Garda Reserve. As Deputy Collins has said, it should absolutely be put on record that the Garda Reserve members are indicative of and the epitome of volunteerism in Irish society. They are people who come and give their own time, for very little remuneration, wanting to give something back to the communities in which they live and work. They are a very welcome asset to An Garda Síochána. We had a number of specific seminars for the Garda Reserve and the feedback we received and heard was exactly what Deputy Collins has said - that some members of the Garda Reserve perceived they did not have a particular point of contact where their voices could be heard. We are appointing a superintendent in charge of the Garda Reserve who will have responsibility for co-ordinating the Garda Reserve itself and who will also address any issues the reserves may want to bring to their attention. Each of the regional assistant commissioners will also hold a quarterly seminar with the reserves.

Regarding vision, we have identified a number of powers we will expand to the Garda Reserve. At the moment we are in the final stages of putting the necessary structures and training in place to ensure this can be implemented. The Garda reserves come from a wide range of communities and have a lot of skills. Many reserves are professional people and can bring a lot of skills to various aspects of the Garda organisation. We are exploring that at the moment to see where people could employ these skills to benefit them and the organisation. The Deputy also mentioned looking at a reserve stream. We are talking to the Public Appointments Service at the moment and exploring what options are available regarding that.