John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

There are obvious advantages to the point made regarding local policing and the need for gardaí to be located in their working area. Such gardaí would have intelligence on the local gurriers. Unfortunately, modern society has moved to the point where gardaí must almost constitute a rapid response force. They must be mobile and cannot be located in every village in the country as they were in the past. Modern living has moved the force into a different mode of operation and this may be removing gardaí from the community. Something can be done to reduce the impact of that development but it will not eliminate it completely. I suspect the target percentage and the reference to RAPID might need to be changed but the general objective is a reasonable one that should be taken on board by legislation or otherwise.