Ms Paula Hilman:

Yes. The majority of that decrease is in one region, Dublin. We are committed to putting more people in roads policing and we have a list of people who are suitable for allocation within the Dublin metropolitan region. However, we also have to wait until we deal with the allocation of more recruits and more people joining An Garda Síochána. That will then have a knock-on effect. To give the overall number, approximately 5% of our workforce is dedicated to roads policing.

In the fourth region, the southern region, the number was 181 in 2019 and is now 174. We are committed to ensuring we have the numbers. As we continue to recruit, it is an area that I, my regional assistant commissioner colleagues and the commissioner will be looking at as we get more people joining An Garda Síochána. Regarding where we are today, in addition to roads policing members, regular Garda members and community policing teams also carry out road safety functions.