Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I am by no means dismissive of the reservations of the representative associations. I accept that some people might consider it strange that a person who has received less than 24 months' training could exercise exactly the same powers as a garda. I also have a clear picture regarding the points made about resources, overtime earnings and so forth. I am not ignoring these points, nor do I view them as wholly insubstantial.

I make the broader point that, from the point of view of effective policing, the question we must ask is whether, even if I were to treble the numbers of gardaí or expenditure on the Garda, I would have recruits from the communities to which Senator Brian Hayes referred. There are different issues, including the need to have local community roots for the Garda Síochána. We live in a changing society. People commute and lead lifestyles immeasurably different from those which supported policing in the past, when local people were members of the force and acted as its eyes and ears locally. The community naturally had a loyalty to such gardaí because they were neighbours. Without the neighbour principle in policing, we will lose something.

I thank Senator Maurice Hayes for expressing the view that there was not a decision in Northern Ireland to scrap volunteer policing, but to scrap the anomaly of full-time reservists. That is almost a contradiction in terms. There are many good people in the full-time reserve of the PSNI, but that is having things both ways. The state engages members on a full-time basis, but will not give them any of the comforts of being a full-time policeman or policewoman. That is a strange phenomenon.

Senator Dardis said nobody would be eligible to be appointed unless they completed prescribed training. Senator Cummins asked what constitutes prescribed training. Section 14(4) states: "The power to appoint persons under subsection (1) may be exercised not earlier than 12 months after the commencement of this section ...". There are two ensuing conditions. First, the Garda Commissioner must come to the Minister with the proposal; the Minister does not instruct the Garda Commissioner to create a reserve. This was deliberately included so the proposal would be made in the best interests of the force, not in the financial interests of the Minister. Section 14(4) also provides that regulations must be made concerning the reservists recruitment and training, and prescribing the terms and conditions of their position.