Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 November 2004
198 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he will announce the details of his plans for a Garda traffic corps; the other road traffic policingmodels he considered in the course of his plans; and the reasons he will be using fully trained crime fighters for this role. [30669/04]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, I announced on 23 November the establishment within the Garda Síochána of a traffic corps, in accordance with a commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government. The establishment of the traffic corps follows the completion of a strategic review of traffic policing carried out by the Garda Síochána and published on 23 November by the commissioner.
A key recommendation of the strategic review is that a new position of assistant commissioner in charge of all aspects of road traffic law should be created. On 23 November, the Government, at my request, made a new Garda Síochána ranks order providing for this, and the post will be filled shortly. The holder of the new post will be a member of the top management team in the force and will bring visible leadership to the traffic corps. In addition, following the recent Government approval of the increase of the strength of the force to 14,000, the number of members dedicated to enforcement of road traffic law will progressively increase from approximately 530 now to 1,200 in 2008. The traffic corps will also have a dedicated and identifiable budget, as recommended by the strategic review, and the formal arrangements for this within the Garda budget will now be put in place.
The most appropriate place for a traffic corps to be located is within the Garda Síochána structure. Road traffic offences are serious offences, which too often lead to fatalities and serious injuries. The Road Safety Strategy 2004-2006, recently published by the Minister for Transport, sets out demanding enforcement targets and will set a significant benchmark for the traffic corps.
Members of the Garda Síochána assigned to the traffic corps will remain full police officers and as such continue to be responsible for preventing and detecting crime generally. Similarly, members of the Garda Síochána who are not members of the traffic corps will continue to have general responsibility for enforcing road traffic law.
