Mr. Ronan Slevin:

I just want to let the Senator know she is on the wrong side of the bridge. The home of hurling is just across it. Yes, it goes to prove our point and what both associations have been saying here. There may have been different views on the operating and policing model as it stands. The view of the Garda Representative Association is that it is not delivering a police service to members of the public on the ground. It is not delivering the service they are used to or deserve to get. It is without doubt that resources are being moved from station to station to provide cover for ever greater areas, unfortunately. While we welcome specialisation within the divisions, unfortunately there is only one place they are coming from, namely, the front line. Resources coming out from Templemore every three months seem to be just barely leading to a climb in the figures but they are only replacing people being put into specialised units, being promoted, retiring or resigning. I do not believe we will see any significant change in the numbers in An Garda Síochána in the next five to ten years. I definitely do not see us achieving more than 15,000 under the current model. We have an undertaking from the Government for 1,000 new recruits every year for the next five years. That is against a backdrop of close to 400 or 500 people leaving the organisation in the same timeframe. We just do not see where the numbers are going to come from.

This is a Government issue. I understand there is a restraint in relation to the public pay purse. Our proposal does not have to do with increasing the pay of members. It is definitely addressing the training allowance, which is completely inadequate. It should be close to €35,000. There are 19 points on the pay scale within An Garda Síochána. It is too long before you come up to a reasonable living wage. We want the Government to reduce those points on the scale to 12 or 13, bring in a long service increment to keep members in the job longer, and address the pension issue for the post-2013 members. It is a combination of those issues.

If we do not address that, this crisis will not be solved. Rather, it will get worse - without a doubt.