Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps it would be helpful if I gave some details on what it is actually doing. The €1.8 million was for the upgrade of police equipment on the Defender aircraft. The equipment that was there was obsolete and no longer supported by the manufacturer, so it was essential to replace it. I must check, but I think it was also so that it could be used at night. Yes, it can be used at night as well and it has the machinery and infrastructure it needs to operate at night, which it did not for some time. The equipment includes a video distribution system, including monitors and recorders; a downlink-uplink system; a moving map system; a mapping overlay system for the video feed to the monitors and a daylight and shortwave infrared thermal imaging camera system. This effectively means that aircraft is now up to date and able to do its work. There is always a need to examine whether there could be further use as society develops and there is more movement. We have already heard about criminals using motorways and so on. It is very good to have this aircraft. There are two helicopters in total, I understand. The fleet available to the Garda is two helicopters and the Defender aircraft.