Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My thanks to everyone for coming in. It is interesting for us from several points of view. The similarities North and South are interesting, as are some of the differences. Perhaps we could explore the whole area of co-operation along Border communities, especially given the onset of Brexit and so forth. What level of engagement has been embarked on in terms of rural crime?

I am struck by a particular matter. We are sick of the lads being before the committee. We have them in all the time and we are well used to them but it is an extra privilege to have Mr. Todd before us in order that we might learn from his experience. We often look to the PSNI model post-Patten. We say it was instrumental in shaking up the culture that existed previously. One point made by Mr. Todd is striking. He said that the level of evaluation and analysis has continued into the evolving role of a police service. We are a little behind in the South perhaps but we have begun that process. It has been added to a little by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland but we are still a little behind the PSNI.

This may be a little eclectic but several points stand out for me. One emerged last week on foot of the presentations we received. It relates to the service changing from a more traditional role in crime, targeting, arrest and detection into being far broader in scope. Mr. Todd referred to 150 calls each day linked to mental health issues. That would have emerged in a project we did on the Prison Service and the number of people who are incarcerated now who traditionally would have been in psychiatric institutions. The criminal justice system has become a hoover for many social problems. How does the PSNI deal with that? What is the interface? I imagine it is a question of the interface between the PSNI and other organisations. In the South, it has certainly been something of a problem in engaging with the likes of Tusla, the HSE and others organisations. How does the PSNI deal with the connection with other state agencies that deal with health and mental health? Mr. Todd referred to specialist services and the requirement for more specialist skills to deal with those areas.

How does the PSNI deal with the emphasis away from crime and detection to being something much broader? We have identified in the South as well, but the PSNI may have been dealing with it a bit longer. The numbers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland have greatly reduced. Obviously there were security elements in that, following the Good Friday Agreement and all of that. The PSNI seems to have managed quite well with lower numbers.