Mr. J.P. Mulherin:

A number of new positions have been announced over the past year or so. I think there were in 12 or 13 locations prior to this and they have been expanded in eight or nine more. It tends to be one per county at the moment. There has been one in Mayo for a number of years based in the South West Mayo Development Company. This initiative is delivered through local development companies rather than the local authorities. There have been requests from local development companies to expand the scheme and that is why the eight or nine additional ones that were announced in recent times have been added to the scheme. It is something we continue to keep under review and where additional demand arises, we are open to considering.

Our view of it is that we have done a fairly substantial expansion of the programme over the past year and a half. We just want to see that bear down in the coming years but it is certainly something that we are open to keeping under review. As part of the new outdoor recreational strategy, each county will be developing its own outdoor recreation plans. We will see what emerges in terms of needs at a local area and that may point to the need for additional officers in certain locations.