David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for her response and congratulate her on this work, which is very important. That she has got the Garda Reserve recruitment campaign up and running is a very positive move. She stated she hopes to have the community partnerships up and running across the State later this year. Are we talking about the autumn?

Has the Minister considered the situation in my county, Cork, where the distance from Castletownbere to Youghal is quite long? If there is but one community partnership in the county, it is not the same as having one in a small county such as Leitrim or Louth, or even Dublin. Has she considered giving larger counties more than one community partnership because of their geographical size - in other words, one per municipal district. Cork already has three different local authority areas. If there were one partnership in each local authority area, it could work. I am sure there are other large counties that have a similar challenge.

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