Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

Does the Minister accept we should provide cutting edge technology to the Garda Síochána and that PULSE does not qualify? This technology must be out of date because it goes back to the early 1990s. It is unsatisfactory, nonetheless, that it is installed in only 25% of Garda stations. Does the Minister not accept that a situation whereby some gardaí must travel ten or 15 miles to a Garda station to input their material into PULSE is a waste of Garda time? Furthermore, does he not accept that we got bad value in that €60 million has been spent on the system, €50 million on consultancy and a further €50 million on non-consultancy services and we end up with technology that only reaches 25% of Garda stations? Does he agree that it is slow and in many cases ineffective and does not qualify? PULSE is an acronym for police using laser systems effectively. Surely it does not qualify on any front, should be replaced and the Garda given modern state-of-the-art technology.

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