Ms Yvonne Cooke:

On the specific question of whether research had been undertaken, I can confirm that it had. A team within An Garda Síochána that was researching barriers to recruitment and inclusivity across all aspects of diversity undertook international research involving benchmarking against other police services. This team identified a number of areas, some of which were very pertinent to what we are discussing today. For example, issues such as educational attainment, language proficiency and nationality were identified as barriers for certain groups. In addition to what Ms Comerford raised earlier on, An Garda Síochána did engage with the Irish Traveller Movement. A key issue it raised with us related to challenges in respect of the requirement for languages that existed before this regulatory change. Research was undertaken and cognisance was given to opening up eligibility as wide as possible.