Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her opening remarks. Subhead A2 includes the Garda Síochána Reserve. The figure was €150,000 last year on top of €4.4 million. I am keen to get more detail on what the plans are around all of that.

I was interested in the large increase in the allocation under A11, which relates to the witness protection programme. The figure has gone from €400,000 to €1.2 million approximately. Funding for the Garda College has also increased considerably. It is probably due to Covid-19 but the college has been closed for a large part of the year. Will there be savings in this area?

Reference was made to a target of having cybercrime satellite hubs. The target was to have three last year and three more this year. We need to put more resources into this area. The staff working there can be under considerable stress because often they are dealing with child pornography online and so on. It is a stressful and difficult work environment for people to be engaged in all the time.

There is a need for a programme of support for the people working in that category of crime detection and evidence research. The section is quite understaffed and that needs to be examined in general. If satellite hubs are being set up, I welcome that and ask for more detail in that regard.