Mr. Drew Harris:

We will want to be certain about implementation, the processes and so on before we go to the Border divisions. There is enough happening in them without telling them that on 1 November there will also be structural change. We will hold off on making changes in the Border divisions until we have some certainty on what the position on Brexit is likely to be.

We have our plans to deal with a Brexit scenario. We have been in consultation with the Department of Justice and Equality on some of the legal issues that will open up. Obviously, many of the EU treaties used in dealing with organised crime issues will fall away. I am referring to such things as tracing financial assets, for instance, because the United Kingdom is leaving those arrangements. We will still obviously have full use of them with our European partners, for example, the European arrest warrant. We will, however, have to fall back on a far more complex process rather than the European arrest warrant, but, overall, we are ready. We have, in effect, been thinking about this matter for two years and building up resources in the Border area during that time. In November we will have a further passing out parade. That will allow us to further supplement some of Border county divisions. We have also built up our resources in the armed support unit. We have about a further 30 members who are trained and ready. We are looking towards the introduction of an armed support unit in Cavan to reduce response times in the Border area. We are also looking to the national units. We have to think about the economic crime bureau and also if we need to allocate further resources in dealing with the confiscation of assets. We have been through a big training programme on asset confiscation, in which each division will have specific members trained. There has been a big uplift in our capability and there is more to come. A lot of it is in the context of the overall policing of Ireland, but we are aware of the challenges Brexit may bring.