Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

While it was never intended that deployment of the reserve force would be laid out in detail, the Minister did not give us a picture of what this body will be enabled to do through these provisions. We do not need to know whether reserve force members are paid or the number of hours they serve — that detail will be provided in future — but their training and the work in which they will be engaged should be outlined. Will they be engaged in crime prevention and, if so, should they be Garda members or could they, for instance, be deployed as crime prevention officials attached to the probation and welfare service? Could they be paid by the State to work with community groups or other bodies? Is the reserve force needed in such circumstances or is a better mechanism available?

The Minister stated that reserve force members should be entitled to the same immunity as Garda members, despite us not knowing what they will do. However, they will not be full members of the Garda, they will not receive the same training, they will not work full time and they will not be paid on the same basis. Most of them will not want that anyway. The force will be different from the FCA, which is not likely to be active unless there is an emergency. FCA members are only remunerated when they attend training camps. These details should be provided so that we have a picture of what the force will do.

Deputy Cuffe referred to community groups which have played a role in policing fora in his constituency. However, in the south inner city, including Rialto in my constituency, residents have come together at such fora and they do a good job. They play a role in helping the Garda Síochána to police their communities but they received no backing from the Department when they sought support to ensure their work would be co-ordinated so that they could work more intensively in the community, reflect fully what the Garda Síochána is doing and reflect to the Garda Síochána and city council officials the work that needs to be done. Those fora have been put on hold by their members because no support was forthcoming. The Minister should look to these people to join a reserve or volunteer force as they give freely of their time, yet trust has been damaged in this case because the Government would not support them.

If a reserve rather than a volunteer force is established, we do not know whether gardaí who take early retirement will be permitted to join. Perhaps the force could become a holding centre for gardaí such as the five members who were transferred from Donegal to Dublin recently. They could still abuse the public through their participation in the reserve force. Setting up such a force is akin to providing a yellow pack organisation because its members will not have full powers of arrest and so on. The powers enjoyed by gardaí are derived from the training they have undertaken for two years and that is how they become members of the Garda Síochána.

Deputy Costello asked whether members of the force require permanent mentoring, thus tying up gardaí in a baby-sitting role because the State has not trained enough people to do the work of the Garda Síochána. Will they be deployed to provide security at football matches, concerts and late night discos or will organisers of such events encourage the Garda Síochána to take heed of the attendance of thousands of people at such events so that sufficient gardaí will be on duty?

I support Deputy Cuffe's comments on the amendment to regulations to provide that gardaí be permitted to live and serve in their native communities — traditionally, especially in Dublin, gardaí have not been permitted to be stationed in their native areas, they have been deployed elsewhere. The Garda Síochána was established after the auxiliaries or black and tans. The Minister has failed to make the case for the amendments and they should be rejected.

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