The Minister referred to increasing the number of gardaí, but his comments do not reflect reality. When one takes retirements, replacements and all other factors into consideration, the number of gardaí is actually decreasing. As a result, the Garda presence is scattered and totally ineffectual. It is easy for people to refer to the ineffectiveness of the Garda in terms of crime prevention, but unfair and wrong to make such comments because gardaí do the best they can in the prevailing circumstances. Statistics prove, however, that they are ineffective. It is a shameful indictment that many members of the public are unwilling to report crime to the Garda because they know their complaints will not be dealt with as they are viewed as being insignificant. That is the reality.