Vol. 466 No. 7
150 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for Justice the cost of the recent Garda operation to close off the Shannon as a measure against crimes on the elderly in the west of Ireland; whether it is intended that the measures adopted might be occasionally put in place to deter mobile gangs and criminals in view of the effectiveness of the Shannon operation. [12375/96]
Operations such as Operation Shannon are undertaken and reviewed by the Garda authorities on an ongoing basis to address both long-term and short-term operational needs in the fight against crime. The Garda authorities report that the results have been positive and encouraging in both low-key and high profile operations carried out to date.
Attempting to assess the direct cost of each such operation would be a very time-consuming exercise because of the fact that there are regular changes in personnel involved and so on. In the circumstances, I do not propose to ask the Garda authorities to divert resources to any specific costing exercise.
