Ms Angela Willis:

A development we are very much looking forward to is the introduction of body-worn cameras. It will be an absolute game-changer for An Garda Síochána when they are introduced. Plans are advancing and I am glad to say they will be piloted in my area, Dublin city centre. That will change the behaviour of people who think it is okay to attack gardaí, throw fireworks at them or spit at them and to engage in reprehensible behaviour towards them or any member of the public.

We constantly review our tactics and our approach but we are bound by that graduated response. We cannot just come in at the top level until we have tried to engage, explain and encourage people to desist in their activity and then it comes to enforce. As the Deputy said, enforcement might not always happen at that particular moment because it could have the wrong effect of escalating the situation and causing harm to innocent bystanders.

To reiterate on body-worn cameras, we are the only people on the line at the moment who are not videoing proceedings. I think the body-worn cameras will really be a gamechanger for us. Obviously, appropriate technology to enable us to utilise that footage and material to evidentialise it in an efficient manner so that we are not spending hours and hours trawling through footage would be another important part of that progressive improvement in how we do our business.