Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

What is the Minister's understanding of the lack of success in recruiting members of the Garda reserve? Some 1,400 reserve gardaí were promised but there are many Garda divisional districts with a single reserve garda. I cannot remember any similar issue attaining so much mileage in the newspapers, with hundreds of thousands of words written about this initiative. I hope it is not the case, now that its author has left politics, that there is not the same commitment from the current Minister and the Department on this issue.

When does the Minister expect the target of 1,400 to be met? I saw an amusing programme on television last Sunday night which featured Risteard Cooper posing as the former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, with three Garda reserve members with L plates on their backs running after him and looking after his every whim. Now that the former Minister, Mr. McDowell, is functioning only at the Bar, I hope it is not the case that the current Minister's commitment to the notion of a Garda reserve is only lukewarm and that the Garda is resisting it.

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