Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not delay the House because I know there are people here with a lot of experience in the Defence Forces and that general field. Senator Gallagher is a former member. I concur with the previous speakers. I know this is a comprehensive Bill, as we can see from the size of it apart from anything else. It is as comprehensive a Bill as I have seen in quite a while. We have spoken about a lot of anomalies, which I am sure the Minister is doing her best to square. My greatest concern is that the garda on the front line every day on behalf of the State is not the average State worker. Gardaí put their lives on the line every day when they go outside their door. To be fair to gardaí, they are viewed in a certain way by a small minority of opinionated people who put cameras in their faces and make videos of them as they go about their daily work. The only way I can describe it is that they are trying to incite them. I know quite a lot of gardaí. I have played football and other sports with them. I spoke to a couple of them at the weekend and they cannot wait to get out of An Garda Síochána, unfortunately. That is not a good reflection on our State, and possibly not on our society either. I hope this Bill can do something to address those different issues and to back An Garda Síochána in whatever way we can.