Mr. Drew Harris:

By the end of 2020, we are going to have about 10,000 of these smartphones issued. Gardaí, particularly those engaged in uniformed, high-visibility duties, should all have connectivity across the network. That will be secure connectivity into the systems. They will have the ability to ring in on an official phone and provide information. In effect, we need the service centres to be able to take those calls. It will keep gardaí out on the ground as opposed to requiring them to come back to the station to fill out forms. This is a laborious process.

I look to other initiatives we have. We have the investigation management system. The roll-out in this regard has started. It will also take until the end of 2020. In the next two years, the gardaí on the ground will see good investment to make their lives easier and work more efficient in terms of connectivity and their ability to input data once instead of filling out several forms, etc.