Mr. Mark Toland:

I would make two comments. I live in rural Ireland and have done for five years, and I have also closed police stations in my previous role. People have a real emotional attachment to their Garda stations, and the fear of crime can sometimes be much higher than the reality of becoming a victim so I understand that closeness people have and I can understand when that is taken away.

What I found at community meetings is that people were looking for the individual garda to be available. It was less about the station and more about the access to services. It was about accessibility and being able to contact someone. In some places the community Garda would give out their mobile phone number so people were far more reassured when they had access to services. We make recommendations in here to the effect that if we close a police station or take someone out of a one-Garda station we need to make sure that people know they can have access either through a library, a clinic, a service or that the garda will be available.

Also, it is very hard to measure what a community officer does because quite often they are attending GAA events. They have done a lot of great work with young children. They are very good in terms of intelligence. They know everybody. They know three and four generations. What we recommend is that the community officer should be retained but they should also be doing enforcement. They should be investigating crime. They should be dealing with a plethora of policing services, not just visiting people the same people. My own staff used to do it. They need to be out within the community. They need to publicise when they will be available and people need access. It is very important to see a visible presence of a police officer. Many senior gardaí have a dilemma. Do they leave a police officer sitting in a Garda station at 1 o'clock in the morning waiting for someone to come in or would it be better to close the front counter service at night, put the garda in a car out on patrol? It is about achieving a balance between the two.