Vol. 555 No. 3
244 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his plans to increase the numbers of gardaí in the County Louth area; if there is a detective branch, crime unit and drugs unit available at the weekend in the County Louth area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18543/02]
I have been informed by the Garda authorities, who are responsible for the allocation of resources to individual areas, that the current personnel strength of Louth-Meath Garda division, which polices the Louth area is 538 (all ranks). This represents an increase of 40, or 8%, since 31 December 1997. I have also been informed that detective units and crime-drugs units patrol the Louth area at weekends.
The Garda authorities have assured me that the allocation of resources to the Louth-Meath division will be kept under review and when additional personnel next become available the needs of that division will be fully considered within the overall context of the needs of Garda divisions throughout the country.
245 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if there will be extra resources allocated from his Department to Drogheda in consideration of the massive population increase that now makes Drogheda the largest town in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18551/02]
I have been informed by the Garda authorities, who are responsible for the allocation of resources to individual areas, that the current personnel strength of the Drogheda Garda district is 109 gardaí (all ranks). This represents an increase of 17, or 18.4%, since 31 December 1997.
I have furthermore been assured that the allocation of additional resources to the Drogheda Garda district will be kept under review and when additional personnel next become available the needs of that district will be fully considered within the context of the overall needs of Garda districts throughout the country.
