I am informed by the Garda authorities – who are responsible for the detailed allocation of personnel to individual areas – that the number of street patrols in the Dublin area have not been cut back.
I am also informed that the overall levels of policing throughout the region have been maintained. Resources are deployed at all times with greatest concentration in problem areas. In cases where problem areas are identified the levels of patrols are increased in order to support initiatives taken to tackle the specific problem. In these cases, special beat patrols have been introduced to augment normal patrols.