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

I enthusiastically support the establishment of a reserve force. The Garda is overstretched and that will still be the case when the additional 2,000 recruits come on stream. There is continuing demand for a more visible presence and one of the ways of achieving that is by providing support for the Garda Síochána and, in particular, by having reserve members available who will assist in supplying that visible presence.

We can learn from what happens in other countries. The neighbouring island has a long tradition of special constables. As I mentioned on Committee Stage, Charles Dickens was a special constable. The tradition stretches back that far. They are unpaid. I accept that the special constables in Northern Ireland did not cover themselves in glory. Nevertheless, we can learn from aspects of policing in the UK. It also has community support police, who are paid.

I envisage Ireland having a reserve force of approximately 5,000 members. There is a resource available in the form of the FCA, civil defence and others who have training, discipline and so forth. That is a ready resource which could be utilised to train people. The duties involved would be support for the Garda Síochána and handling crowd control at matches, U2 gigs and the like. The members would be a visible presence in the streets and estates where they are needed. They would be with and under the control of a full-time member of the force. I also envisage them doing station duties. They could be paid expenses and a limited amount of remuneration. I accept Deputy Costello's point that if they had to appear as witnesses on behalf of the State they would have to be remunerated by way of expenses for that purpose.

I am enthusiastic about this proposal. It will relieve some of the pressures on the Garda Síochána and will enable the Garda to have a more effective role in our community. I look forward to seeing it in operation as quickly as possible. I appreciate that the Minister has gone some distance in his latest amendments to meet some of my reservations about his proposal. I am still a little worried about the possibilities for conflict between subsection (3), which basically gives the same powers, duties, immunities and so forth to reserve members, and subsection (5) under which these may be limited by the Garda Commissioner. If it were possible, I would recommend that the provision be redrafted. Apart from that, I am prepared to support the outline of the reserve force as prescribed.

See this speech in context