Mr. Justin Kelly:

It would be remiss of me to say we do not have resource issues. The Garda Commissioner has said publicly we are probably down 1,000 officers on where we should be. We have to currently supplement a lot of our work, as the Deputy well knows, with overtime. We are fortunate in that we have a substantial budget provided to us by the Government. Resourcing is an issue, however. For high-level organised crime, resourcing is never a problem. When targeting international organised crime gangs and some of the bigger gangs, including in the Deputy's area, resourcing is never an issue for us.

The Deputy rightly said Chief Superintendent Smart is an excellent officer. We have a good system where a chief superintendent, such as Chief Superintendent Smart, would make contact with Superintendent Boland, who is here with me, to say they are running an operation, do not have enough resources and need them to be supplemented. We always do that. One of the most important aspects of the area that I lead - organised and serious crime - is supporting our colleagues around the country. One of the key things we do is support the types of operations the Deputy referred to. Resourcing is always a challenge but that is not unique to An Garda Síochána. It is the same with all my colleagues I meet internationally or around Europe.