Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is clear that during the years of the so-called Celtic tiger the investment in resources, for example, to deal with technology and vehicles issues, was not as it should have been. This is absolutely clear when we read the report on the issue of technology within An Garda Síochána. Some 1,000 gardaí were interviewed and met in focus groups for the Garda Inspectorate's report. The perspective of An Garda Síochána is given in the report. Nevertheless, this is a difficult time for An Garda Síochána with this level of analysis, necessary though it is. What I intend to do is incrementally ensure the members of the force will have the resources they need to do the job which I know they want to do and which they carry out every day in protecting the public in all sorts of arena and difficult situations. They put their lives at risk every day of the week.

From a budgetary point of view, there was a breakthrough this year for the Department with the extra investment which has been made. The Department's budget for this year is €2.156 billion for current spending and €107 million for capital spending. Not all of that is for An Garda Síochána, whose budget this year is approximately €1.35 billion.

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