Mr. Drew Harris:

Yes, but minus the cessations there will be in the year, obviously, around 300. Concentrating in effect just on probationer gardaí coming out of Templemore does have an operational impact because they need to be mentored. They need a lot of supervision and support in their first six months, then for the next two years and in subsequent years as well. It takes time. I felt we were reaching a point of saturation and so easing back to 600 this year, which is still a considerable number, but concentrating on the displacement of experienced gardaí from tasks that Garda staff can take on, was the priority for this year. In effect it was also required to meet the Government targets for the make-up of the organisation.