Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Arrangements are in place to ensure a psychological expert is available to the Garda in a siege situation. The Garda took advantage of this option during the recent incident in Gort. Senior management of the force and the Central Mental Hospital are about to conclude a memorandum of understanding which will put these arrangements into a more concrete form for future use.

The Garda Síochána internal firearms range, erected when Deputy O'Keeffe's party was in office has unfortunately been judged unsafe.

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