Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

It was also the Deputy's party which, in dealing with the Estimates and the finances for 2011, provided funding to the Department to pay the salaries of 13,500 gardaí as opposed to the 14,500 that were in place. It was the Deputy's party which entered into an agreement with the IMF and the EU to reduce dramatically by 1,000 the numbers of gardaí this year in circumstances in which they had no idea how they could achieve it, there was no scheme in place to facilitate that, and as a consequence, no planning of any nature took place.

What has happened under my watch is that the Garda Commissioner has conducted a comprehensive review of the manner in which funding is being applied, looking at the maximum efficiencies that can be put in place to guarantee front-line services and to meet community needs. No decisions, I emphasise, have yet been made on the closure of Garda stations or, indeed, the curtailing of hours. What the Garda Commissioner is wisely doing is looking at stations right across the country to ascertain whether there are efficiencies that could be put in place which will ensure that trained gardaí are used to the best possible advantage and whether there are savings that can be made, for example, in circumstances in which it may be appropriate that stations close at 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock at night instead of staying open all night, in circumstances where patrol cars would still be available and where, if there is an emergency, the gardaí would be accessible on a 999 call. The stations to which the Deputy is referring are part and parcel of the review. No decision has been made to close 24 stations in County Donegal. This is alarmist talk-----

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