Mr. Drew Harris:

In part, these are operational decisions that are built on crime trends. In recent years, it is a fact that in Ireland and in other European nations, we have seen a rise in the reporting and incidence of domestic abuse, serious sexual assault, child abuse, as well as crime that is facilitated via the Internet, be that the abuse of children on the Internet or cyber-related or cyber-enabled crime. As we look forward to what our policing priorities are and how they might change, and they do change over time, that is how we determine the resourcing of what we put in place. New standards are also required of us. I refer to the introduction of the armed support unit.

It is really an organisational reaction to some of the very dangerous situations in which members were engaging, and to ensure we can protect the public and our members when dealing with them. They are new standards that are required of us and we have to resource them accordingly.