Mr. Drew Harris:

Overtime in the end is not the wisest policy to follow as we are better off having numbers of gardaí. We had a budget this year, which was an increase on last year, of €144 million. That is a significant budget, but there is an obligation on the organisation to live within that budget of public money.

There are diminishing returns from overtime. One has to think of the welfare of members who are already working a 40-hour week. Overtime is on top of that and some can then work excessive hours which leads to health and safety issues. There are no cuts. There is a requirement to live within the budget we have been provided with.