Ms Paula Hilman:

As I have outlined, we welcome the removal of gardaí from some roles. We still need to do the evaluation on the CAST project. There would be challenges in rolling out the reactive patrolling model, which has been trialled in Limerick, nationally. In other countries it works in urban areas and cities at weekends. For a country like Ireland with many rural areas, that would be a challenge. I spoke about the forum, which is 12 agencies doing preventative work. That is a great opportunity and could be linked the local community safety partnerships as they are established and do the preventative work. That model exists in other jurisdictions. We very much welcome the opportunity to be here today because we think there are great benefits. To replicate the model as it stands throughout the country, especially the reactive patrolling, would be challenging.