Mr. Ronan Slevin:

It probably is in one sense but it is also the idea of finding spaces for members to be assigned and resources to go to those courses. There is a restriction on the number of courses that can take place due to the number of instructors that we have. That has increased in the last year and we hope to see an improvement in the number of people being given those courses. It is a necessary requirement that those people are trained as a matter of urgency because every district patrol car should be manned by a qualified driver who can respond to emergency calls in an appropriately hasty manner when required. That is not the scenario at the moment.

I will make a quick mention of the Garda Reserve. While we do not have any objection to the Garda Reserve, our most significant issue is trying to fill garda spaces at the moment. We are understaffed by 1,000 gardaí at the moment. The population is continually increasing and the understaffing is increasing. We believe that we should have at least 16,000 gardaí as a minimum number. Our focus is ensuring that our recruitment and number of serving members come back up. At that stage, I am sure the Garda Reserve would be a valuable asset to the organisation. As I said, the first thing we want is to see our garda numbers filled.