Mr. Drew Harris:

The organisation is short of personnel. We are short 1,000 at this moment in time, even against the Government's plans. It is accepted that we need more than 15,000 Garda members. Something that does not get counted in is the number of Garda staff we have employed in order to free up Garda members for operational duties. That is a significant and it does need to be stated.

The arrival of the Garda Reserve regulations will allow us to recruit specifically for the Garda Reserve. We look forward to that. Ours is a growing organisation, but by definition, if it is growing, it is because it is too small at this moment in time.

Regarding the city centre, we want to concentrate more resources there around visibility and preventing antisocial behaviour and all the attendant crime that goes with it. We also want to make it feel like a far safer place to operate.