Mr. Drew Harris:

We are under stress. However, ours is a can-do organisation and we have to deal with these matters. An Garda Síochána will be at its strongest ever when we reach a figure of 15,000 members. It must be borne in mind that we will also have 4,000 Garda staff. Part of that deployment, 1,500, will be to allow experienced gardaí to be displaced to the front line. We will then have a very strong contingent on the front line, whatever it might be. I say that because our work involves detective duties, as well as policing by uniformed gardaí. We will be in a strong position at that stage, but there are pressures on us. We want to grow the armed support unit and some of our national units, as well as community policing activities.