Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To finish off on that particular issue, my next question concerns ICT staff. I am still not totally satisfied with the explanation as to how things transpired. Particularly for that first meeting but also subsequently, I do not understand how these people were not consulted about how this transpired.

There was a discussion on "This Week" on Sunday about documentation. I do not have that documentation but my understanding is that a business case on behalf of An Garda Síochána said that the number of ICT staff had fallen by almost 40% since 2008. I think the figure was 37%. We are talking about skilled ICT staff. I am not quoting verbatim because I do not have the document but according to some of the language in that document, this presented a very serious threat to An Garda Síochána's ability to deal with serious crime and manage security. How serious a threat is the lack of ICT staff? I understand that the recruitment embargo impacted upon this fairly significantly. Is it fair to say that the recruitment embargo was applied in this way as rather a blunt instrument and that An Garda Síochána did not have the kind of discretion it would have needed to recruit?