Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Garda Commissioner and I recently launched a new model of community policing to build on the existing community policing, which has been very successful. The last time I was in this House, the figures for community police in the country were 670; today they are in the region of 706, so the number is ever-increasing. The more gardaí one puts on exclusively community policing, the fewer one has for ordinary policing. The Garda Commissioner must make that judgment call but he is very conscious of the desire of people such as me and other Members of the House that our gardaí are very vigilant and visible in communities, that people know them and that they know the people they serve.

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