Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan:

Mr. Ruane, our head of legal affairs, is behind my back in case I say anything here. We have some cases before the courts at the moment. I am sure Mr. Ruane will stop me if I am saying something that I should not say.

It is important for the committee members to understand the rationale behind the decision. There are good reasons. We have nothing to hide in terms of the numbers allocated. However, there are people, criminal elements and different elements who pose a risk. It may be in their interests to know precisely how many gardaí are in a particular area at a particular time. We have a duty of care to our members. A number of members have been threatened. We have seen situations in other jurisdictions. Most recently, committee members will have seen cases in Belgium and France where individuals who wanted to cause harm to police officers targeted police officers who they believed to be accessible or available to them. We are conscious of what is happening not alone in this environment but also in the international environment and what it may mean for individual members. We have a thought-out rationale. If it is helpful, we could brief the committee separately on the matter.