Mr. John Twomey:

I will answer that question in a number of ways, if I may. First, the proposal was for a privately funded insurance unit within An Garda Síochána. An Garda Síochána wants to provide a policing service to all members of the public, not just those who provide funding. We believe our obligation is to provide the service that is needed and not necessarily a service just to those who come forward and pay. That is as much an ethical issue as anything else. We in An Garda Síochána need to police the country and we will meet the demands, whatever they are.

This leads me to the second point. We apply resources depending on the demand. We are satisfied that there are sufficient resources to deal with the demands we have talked about or the number of claims we have talked about. As I said at the outset, this area of demand is not the largest of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau. The chief superintendent dedicates the resources in that area. Resources are constantly kept under review. I talked about the additional resources that would be provided before the end of the year. These are constantly under review. The chief superintendent, through his assistant commissioner, will come to An Garda Síochána and make a business case for additional resources. That is why the decision has been taken that somewhere in the region of 35 to 50 additional personnel will be provided to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau between now and the end of the year. This is to meet the demand that the chief superintendent has identified. I refer to the number we are satisfied are required to meet the additional demand.