asked the Minister for Justice how many Garda stations are short of squad cars; the action he proposes to take to provide the required number; and how soon they will be provided.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Garda Squad Cars.
20.
The answer is none. The Garda Síochána are provided with sufficient official transport to cater for their overall needs and the number of cars allocated to individual stations is a matter for decision by the Garda authorities, who do not accept that any stations can be described as being short of transport at present. It is, of course, inevitable that in an organisation the size of the Garda Síochána there will be on hands and under assessment at any given time — as indeed is the case at present — a small number of applications from individual stations to Garda headquarters for the allocation of transport. However, until an application has been assessed by the Garda authorities, the station concerned cannot be treated as being short of a squad car.
Could the Minister state how many cars are standing by in the allotment of new cars in Kilmainham, how long they have been there and whether it is proposed that something be done with them?
I do not have that information at present.
There are shortages in the country and as the Minister himself said there are applications pending which have to be processed. Would it not be useful if the cars which are sitting there in such large numbers, a positive sea of blue, could be used against criminals?
The Garda authorities are satisfied that there is no shortage of patrol cars at present and they also informed me that for some weeks now new and additional patrol cars have been made available to different stations around the country together with an additional motorcycle to all stations in Dublin. Let me recall for Deputy FitzGerald's benefit that it is not so many months since, during his period in Government, that Kevin Street Garda station did not have even one patrol car.
We inherited a shortage of money, but the money we provided was such that there is now a sea of cars waiting to be distributed. Could the Minister get on with getting them around the country where they can be used?
(Interruptions.)