Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The Deputy is, of course, right in saying the Garda Commissioner presents me with a policing plan and that it is for me to approve it. I rely on the Garda Commissioner's expertise in making operational judgments in these matters. To come back to what I said earlier, we had 703 Garda stations at the beginning of this year. A comparable jurisdiction, Scotland, with a higher population, has 360 police stations. In 2000, there were in the region of 160 police stations in Northern Ireland but today, it has 80 and it is reviewing the numbers there with a projected possible number of stations by 2014-2015 of somewhere between 45 to 50.

It is not in the interests of the community for members of the Garda force to sit in stations; it about them being engaged in front line policing for which they are trained. If the Garda Commissioner judges that members of the force can better fulfil the public obligations and duties of the force by being engaged in front line policing rather than sitting behind desks in buildings, I will fully support him in those decisions.

The Deputy is right that I said at the GRA conference that I anticipated there would be further station closures. Based on the implementation of all the closures taking place, we will be left with 664 stations which is practically double the current number in Scotland. I anticipate it is likely in the policing plan we will receive at the end of the year that there will be a proposal for more stations closures to ensure resources are used more effectively and to ensure the skills of front line, well-trained police officers are used to protect the community rather than have them simply sitting in stations which have no recognised operational value in the context of the Garda Commissioner's view. When it comes to how many may be closed or what the position will be in 2013, I will substantially rely on the Commissioner's expertise in that context.

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