asked the Minister for Justice if he is aware that the detective unit based in Kells, County Meath, does not have its own transport and members have had on a few occasions in the past to use their own motor cars if a patrol car was not available; and when such transport will be provided for this unit.
Written Answers. - Garda Transport.
77.
The allocation of official transport to individual stations is a matter for the Garda authorities who inform me that they do not propose to provide an official vehicle for the sole use of the detective unit at Ceanannus Mór station. The local Garda officers consider that the official transport allocated to the station is adequate and that the present arrangement whereby one of the two patrol cars allocated to the station is made available to the detective unit, as required, makes the best use of resources.
I am also informed that, on occasions when official transport is not readily available to the detective unit, the use of private transport is authorised for duties such as attending the scene of a crime or at court, on the basis of appropriate mileage being paid out of State funds, in the normal way.