As with every other public sector organisation, the reality is that the Garda Síochána is going to have to manage with reduced resources. The Garda Commissioner is therefore quite properly reviewing all aspects of the Garda Síochána's policing model, so as to ensure that Garda resources are managed and deployed in the most appropriate manner to meet existing and emerging policing requirements.
The Garda Commissioner's review will examine all aspects of current policing, including the deployment of personnel, the utilisation of modern technologies and the operation of Garda stations.
While no decision has been taken, clearly the reduction in public opening hours in some Garda stations, and the closure of other Garda stations, will be issues that the Garda Commissioner will have to address as part of the review. He may well have to consider whether, in appropriate cases, a better policing service could be delivered to a local community by having Garda members out on patrol rather than in a station.
I will very carefully consider the outcome of this review and the Commissioner's policing plan for next year with the objective of ensuring that priority is given to the maintenance of frontline services.
The following additional information was provided under Standing Order 40A
The Garda Commissioner has been reviewing all aspects of policing, including the deployment of personnel and the operation of Garda stations. His objective is to identify efficiencies and savings so that an effective and professional policing service continues to be delivered to the community within the available resources.
I understand that each Chief Superintendent in charge of a Garda division has been tasked by the Commissioner with conducting an impact assessment of the demands placed on each Garda station within that division, and that any restructuring of the Garda station network will only arise to deliver greater efficiencies in the deployment of personnel and other resources to the various communities within each division.
The manner in which members of the Garda Síochána are stationed throughout the country is by law a matter for the Commissioner, although he must include any proposal to open or close a Garda station in his annual draft policing plan.
Turning specifically to the question of consultation in relation to this process, it would not be practical for decisions on Garda stations to be subject to advance discussions with the wide and open-ended range of organisations listed in the Deputy's question. However, I am informed by the Commissioner that, where a community's policing service is to be delivered through a revised model, which would include any closure of a Garda station, there will be consultation by the Garda Síochána with that community. While the nature of that consultation will inevitably vary according to local circumstances, I would certainly expect that any such revised model would be discussed by the relevant joint policing committee, although of course the final decision on the configuration of policing services will be made by the Garda Commissioner, taking into account overall operational requirements and the need for efficient use of resources by the Garda Síochána in a national as well as a local context.
