Mr. Pat Leahy:

It is progressing quite well. I will go back to one of the questions Deputy O'Callaghan asked earlier about community policing and boots on the ground. We have reached a watershed in terms of the report on the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. I have the report before me. The report, on page 17, states:

There are many excellent gardaí who know their communities well and perform an exemplary service, but it is clear that the community policing system as a whole is under strain. Neither the structure of the police organisation nor its practices support the image it has of itself as a community police service.

That is a fairly strong statement. Basically, it indicates that we are not structured and the practices we are engaged in reflect something other than a community policing service. The report identifies and acknowledges the islands of innovation and the individuals who have put great work into community policing. The commission is effectively asking us to do a complete flip in terms of how we deliver the service. The commission is looking for a paradigm shift. I know this because I have discussed it with members of the commission. I have tried to get inside their heads to find out what exactly they had in mind when they were discussing this. They are looking at something really different. They are saying that we have to change what we do considerably and that we have to bring all instruments of the organisation into alignment with a community policing ethos. They are looking for a paradigm shift. One of the members of the commission stated that the commission got a clarion call from communities to the effect that this is what they want from An Garda Síochána. They want a community policing service that we can really call a community policing service. Our structures and practices need to reflect that. They are saying we need to change our philosophy. If we are to call ourselves a community policing service then our activities behaviours and structures should reflect that. Really, what we are looking at is something altogether different. Internationally, there is a language of community policing that exists but when we start to dismantle it, much of it amounts to tinkering at the edges while the traditional model remains at the core of policing. The commission is asking us to change that substantially.

I will set out what we are bringing to the table. The framework we are developing at the moment is attempting to address this but it will come with significant challenges. Changing the orientation of policing and changing the philosophy towards a community orientation have not really been achieved anywhere. Generally speaking, police forces have add-ons and we have all seen that in operation for years. For example, there may be a handful of really good people and some great initiatives. We have great initiatives throughout the country but the commission is saying there is no national structured approach to community policing. It is almost an add-on to the traditional model. We are being asked to do something significant and it would be important to go through that with the committee at some stage. We need to tease out how we perceive this and what it will look like. We may need a presentation on that at some stage. We are being asked to engage in a paradigm shift and it is important to get that message out.