Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State said that of the 296 gardaí in County Meath, 109 are in the Ashbourne-Laytown district. That means that this district has 50% more gardaí than each of the three districts on average. It shows that the breaking down of the districts in County Meath was not done on a population basis. That is a root cause of the problem. I join the Minister in paying tribute to the gardaí on the ground. They are professional and do the job as best they can. However, the Government must continue to provide the resources and must be aware of the changing population as in County Meath.