Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The difficulty lies in that reply. The problem is that the 3%-3.5% cut across the board is a very crude instrument. Whatever one might think of the measure, if it results — and it has been signalled to us in this instance that it will result — in the DPP having to ask the Garda to pursue cases in the District Court, that is not a good use of public resources. It will mean that gardaí who should be out detecting and preventing crime will spend a lot of time sitting around District Courts.

The Government must take a much more targeted approach to ensure that essential services, those that are important to public safety, are not undermined or weakened. In this case, it would be accepted generally in the country that the DPP must have the resources with which to do the job, namely, to prosecute crime and ensure that offenders are brought to justice. This is an area that the Taoiseach and the Departments of Finance and Justice, Equality and Law Reform must sort and work out with the DPP's office. They must ensure that the office is enabled to operate efficiently and that the cutbacks and restrictions on availability of finance and the curtailment on recruitment of staff do not mean that, ultimately, criminals will walk free or will walk around free for longer than they should.

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