I'd have to disagree with you Capt Eagle. The Garda, amongst other things cover Dublin, with a population bigger than some UK force areas. You're not telling me that 46 miles of water makes the Irish any less susceptible to criminal activity of the sort we get here on the mainland.
I know the unit quite well and can assure you that they are just as 'busy' as the rest of us. In addition, they have miles of black stuff (and I don't mean Guinness!) to fly over and I believe loading an R44 with a SPIFR suite would only further exacerbate the situation??
The mil pilot aspect is an ongoing issue politically which will have to be resolved at some stage because of the problems with flight and crew rules (IAA / Mil).