Mr. Michael Finn:

I might take that question. One of the difficulties we all experienced in the past when the numbers dropped was that in order to provide 24-7 cover in the main centres, we sucked gardaí in from the outside stations to backfill. Communities in rural areas where some of the smaller stations are located probably suffered most. Given that the numbers are coming back up due to the increase in Garda personnel, we now have an opportunity to put gardaí back into communities and leave them there to focus on engaging with people and dealing with local issues. It was not a mistake because we had no option at the time but to bring in gardaí to keep patrol cars going on a 24-7 basis. Now we have that option and that is what we are looking at in terms of the new policing model. We can start to backfill positions in those communities and those involved will become the local community gardaí in Deputy Wallace's area and in other areas. That is what communities want. They want to know the local garda and to know he is there to help them solve local problems. From my experience, that is the type of presence a lot of communities in rural areas want. That is the reason they were most critical of us in the past when we sucked the resources into the main urban centres. Even if a station remained, it was not open because there was no garda there to open it as he or she was in the local town driving a patrol car and providing a service in the bigger area. We have an opportunity to deal with the issue now and that will be part of our philosophy going forward in terms of getting our resources back up. That type of community policing is what people in rural areas, especially where I come from, want to see.