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

The country is short of gardaí but 66 members of the force are involved in information technology, 88 are involved in human resources and 14 are deployed in the press office. Is it not the case that there is a shortage of gardaí and the commitments to provide additional gardaí have not been kept? However, fully trained members are filling the position to which I referred. Why have they not been released from such activities?

I spoke to representatives of the GRA and the AGSI and they have no difficulty with civilianisation. Why has it not been undertaken? Estates in every village, town and city are crying out for more gardaí, yet some members are tied to desks doing work that could be done equally as well and, in some instances, better by people trained separately to do so. Has the Minister a reasonable explanation for his failure to complete the process of civilianisation which was touted five years ago as part of the solution to the lack of Garda numbers?

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