Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I disagree with the Deputy on his fundamental premise that the use of overtime in policing is suspect and that it should all be done on basic pay. That is not the experience of any police force anywhere in the world. If we operated on the basis that police worked their own shift and no more without overtime-driven programmes, it would not produce the desired results. No police force of any significance operates on that basis. It is not wrong for resources to be made available to specific operations or particular areas.

I thank the Deputy for his kind reference to the fact that I have saved the taxpayer between €15 million and €25 million per annum on prison officers' overtime. That is an entirely different system and there is no reason a decent prison service should operate dependent on overtime.

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