John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make a small statistical observation. In any given month in Dublin, the overtime bill for An Garda Síochána could be about €2 million. A sum of €5 million will not solve anything when it comes to overtime. When I look at the overtime figures for about six or seven years ago and compare them with today's figures, I can see that €5 million will achieve nothing. When I speak to seasoned gardaí and new recruits, they tell me the same thing. They say the problem is the rostering. When their shift is over, they take four days off. There is no continuity. When it comes to a crime being committed and the investigative work that is needed, the whole thing breaks down because people have to take a day off. It is not a secret. Everybody who deals with issues like burglaries understands that this is the issue. We stopped Garda recruitment. We are bringing it back slowly but the man hours are not available in many respects to provide for surveillance and to deal with the ensuring investigation and detective work. I put it to Mr. Waters that €5 million will achieve nothing given the overtime bill we had and have now and the scale and extent of the problem.