Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the use of handheld devices at checkpoints, all gardaí will be involved in road blocks and checks rather than only members of the traffic corps. Gardaí are not equally distributed around the State and some parts of the country have a very low ratio of gardaí to population. This impacts on the type of policing that occurs. County Meath probably has the lowest ratio of gardaí to population and Kildare has the second lowest ratio. These counties have considerably worse ratios than the national average, with one garda for every 650 people whereas the average is one garda for approximately 450 people. Even when handheld devices are used, it is a reactive type of policing because there are insufficient personnel to provide cover. Implementing this measure will become an issue in areas where there is inequality in the distribution of gardaí, in addition to resource issues. It may well be applied in some parts of the State where road checks can be down. Perhaps it will only be done by the traffic corps. How will this work?