Knowing a few prominent civil servants over here with responsibility for the ASU of the Gardai, I disagree with you. Our police are busy, that is true, crimes rates are climbing sky high but it can not be said that Ireland is anyway as diverse a country as the UK. The majority of criminal offences here do not require air support at all, we have had only one armed stand off in the last 3 years (now the subject of a massive inquiry because the armed special gardai shot him in the head) and really could make do with a lighter and cheaper helicopter, especially if we could have more helicopters (up to 6 being realistic with the budget) which would help cover the rest of the country. The 2 current machines are supposed to give countrywide support but really the only time they leave dublin is for the airshow in Galway every year and maybe for a drugs bust, I think that's happened once.