Ms Tara McManus:

Members are finding that they do not really have the autonomy anymore to make decisions. Mr. Slevin spoke about the fear of decision-making. This is certainly contributing to mental health issues. It is a combination of things. A person's mental health is very much to do with sleep, hours worked, exercise and nutrition.

Those three things are very much impacted when someone is doing shift work. Members are finding it very difficult to have downtime. Even when they do have downtime, everybody has mobility devices now and they are expected to answer them on their rest time. Rest time, therefore, is being eaten away. People are struggling to cope with the pressures, the extra burdens and all the administrative tasks put on them. People are really struggling to find downtime and this is really contributing to mental health issues. Some of the people I have spoken to before they left An Garda Síochána told me that if they had not left the force, they would more than likely have committed suicide. That is quite concerning.