Mr. Derek Smart:

Regarding Limerick, we have 55% cover on our roster at present for the people assigned to the CAST project. More than 1,729 operational hours have been put into this. The benefit is we have diverted 47 people away from the need for a section 12 arrest; eight people have been deferred from the criminal justice system all together, with files going to the DPP showing the person in question does not belong in that system. There were also a further four people deferred away from arrests, which again shows we had the time to deal with that.

My people are still on the ground dealing with this stuff. Without CAST, we would still be going to calls in this regard but now we are able to offer a different outcome for the people we deal with which, for me, has been the fantastic part of this.