Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

——in favour of those people who support the idea. Obviously, I will not be faithful to all the ideas of the people opposed to the idea. That would be nonsense.

I welcome what Deputy Finian McGrath had to say on two counts. We must get on with the business and cannot keep postponing it — I do not say that to take an unfair advantage. Now is the time to get on with it because we will have other problems in the autumn. We must get on with policing. We should remember that the next modules of the Morris tribunal will not be easy to deal with either. Some of the report will be difficult to deal with from the point of view of the self-esteem and reputation of the force. I must get on with the legislation. I cannot just sit around waiting for successive artillery shells to bounce around me and promise to legislate at the end of it all. As Minister, I do not have the luxury of being able to wait until the dust has settled to get on with the process of reform.

Many people would have reservations about a reserve force. Deputy Cuffe said he would like to see evidence that it works. Reserve forces work and operate in most common law countries. They are useful and effective. I urge the Deputies expressing scepticism and using phrases like "yellow pack policing" to bear in mind what Deputy Finian McGrath discovered when he went to London and spoke to some of the people who have become reservists in Great Britiain. He has no axe to grind in this regard, but he said very fairly that there are good reasons a reserve force is a good idea.

I do not want to repeat myself at great length because I made these arguments on Committee Stage. One of the biggest dangers for An Garda Síochána is that its roots will be cut off from the community and gardaí will find themselves policing areas 20 or 30 miles away to which they must commute. This will not happen just in Dublin but right across the country.

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