Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

-----that we are in a crisis and must cut our cloth to meet our measure, they do not want to be touched. The LRC does excellent work and, as stated, uses practitioners' expertise that is not necessarily within my Department or available to us elsewhere. I compliment the LRC on its work over the years and I look forward to it continuing to do so.

Regarding Garda stations, the McCarthy report's proposed saving was €1 million in return for the closure of 350 stations, half of the stations in the country. It is not beyond the wit of me as Minister to save €1 million within a budget of €2.5 billion, even though 70% of it is difficult to touch because it constitutes wages for gardaí, prison officers and departmental staff. Nevertheless, it is not beyond my wit to find €1 million in the Department.

See this speech in context