Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2017
287. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will report on the establishment of a road policing unit as outlined in the An Garda Síochána modernisation and renewal programme 2016 to 2021; the estimated full year cost of such a unit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31058/17]
View answerLast July, the Government approved a Five Year Reform and High Level Workforce Plan for An Garda Síochána which combines the Government’s response to the Garda Inspectorate report 'Changing Policing in Ireland' and the commitments in the Programme for a Partnership Government aimed at increasing the visibility, effectiveness and responsiveness of An Garda Síochána. The Government agreed that the Garda Commissioner's Modernisation and Renewal Programme (MRP) 2016-2021 would be the vehicle for implementation of the Inspectorate recommendations aimed at the Garda organisation. In support of this plan, Budget 2017 provided funding to continue to expand the number of Gardaí towards 15,000, to double the Reserve to 2,000 and to double the number of civilians to 4,000 by 2021. In addition, the plan is supported by substantial capital investment of some €310 million in critical ICT infrastructure, the fleet and other Garda facilities.
Robust independent oversight is essential to ensuring that the pursuit of the reform programme is relentless over the next 5 years. To ensure that this is case, the 240 agreed recommendations of 'Changing Policing in Ireland' have been referred to the Policing Authority to monitor and assess their implementation by An Garda Síochána and to report progress to me on a quarterly basis. The first two progress reports from the Authority, received in January and April, have been published on my Department's website.
The Programme places considerable emphasise on roads policing including the redevelopment of the Garda Traffic Corps as Garda Roads Policing Units with wider roads policing functions. The intention is that working with non-traffic personnel, the units will seek to deprive criminals the use of the road network through high visibility policing and intelligence-led enforcement operations. This redevelopment initiative is ongoing. The Policing Plan for 2017 includes a commitment to incrementally increase the resources allocated to Roads Policing Units by 10% across all regions by the end of the year. I understand that the Assistant Commissioner with responsibility for Roads Policing is currently assessing the capacity of Divisions and Districts to identify and target areas where An Garda Síochána could accelerate the deployment of personnel to traffic in 2017. The filling of any vacancies identified will be conducted on a structured basis and will be further enhanced with the recently renewed recruitment campaigns to An Garda Síochána.
