One million messages sent via Garda Text Alert system

More than one million SMS messages have been sent via the Garda Text Alert system, which allows gardaí to communicate directly with people who sign up.

Figures released by the Gardaí this morning show there are more than 100,000 people signed up the scheme from 550 groups across the country.

The Text Alert system was officially launched in September 2013 and is operated by the Gardaí with Muintir na Tíre, Neighbourhood Watch and the Irish Farmers Association.

The system allows the Gardaí to provide information by text or e-mail to each registered "community contact" who then forwards the information to all members of their "community group".

It is a one-way system, with no facility to reply to the text from the Gardaí. In a document explaining the system, the Gardaí say: "Contact with the Gardaí must be made in person or by a telephone call, to control and verify information."