Can the community expect to see more uninformed gardaí not just on patrol but on foot patrol? I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the improvements in this area. Will the Minister request the commissioner to ensure that the Garda become more responsive to community needs, in other words that they take on a more public community-orientated role? Will he arrange for steps to be taken to improve the understanding between the community and the Garda of the role the Garda have and of the needs of the community because——

A question, Deputy.

——there seems to be a certain breakdown in that communication. Will the Minister ask the Garda Commissioner to ensure that there is a significant improvement in public relations between the Garda at community level and the local community and particularly local community organisations?

(Limerick East): The Deputy has raised a number of inter-connected points and I will deal with them as follows. First, the new commissioner has decided to employ more gardaí in uniform on the beat on foot than was hitherto the practice. There is evidence of this now especially in our cities, and communities have gardaí regularly on foot patrol. Traditional relationships which existed between individuals and communities and gardaí are being developed and strengthened by this. Two other aspects are relevant. Many of the extra gardaí now being deployed in the Dublin area are young and have recently been passed out of Templemore. Consequently, it was quite clear earlier in the year that there was a need for sergeants to guide, encourage and organise these young gardaí who will be new to the job and in some cases new to the city. The Minister for Finance has sanctioned the appointment of 100 sergeants, and 50 have been appointed. Most of that 50 have been appointed to the Dublin area already.

Thirdly, in the past there was a practice that gardaí would not be deployed near their home area. That is changed and major benefits are seen now in the practice of appointing new gardaí who pass out from Templemore to areas near their own place of birth and near where they were schooled. This will be of great benefit in Dublin. Increasing numbers of young men and women in Dublin are applying for entry into the Garda and the practice now is as far as possible to deploy them in Dublin. These people have experience of an urban background and many of their friends and relatives are living in the urban area. Consequently, they know the scene and also they are in a better position to establish the close kind of community relationships which the Deputy has requested. I am considering other initiatives to deal with the second point he has made about the relationships between members of the Garda and the general public. I am aware of the importance of this as I have said on a number of occasions. A rather trite statistic which is trotted out in support of various arguments is that half of our population is under 25 years of age: we should remember that when we are thinking in terms of community relationships with the Garda.