Garda Deployment

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Questions (562, 601)

Imelda Munster

Question:

562. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of personnel assigned to the Garda traffic corps. [1159/18]

Robert Troy

Question:

601. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of full-time equivalent dedicated traffic corps members employed in each county in each year since 2008. [1944/18]

Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

I propose to take Questions Nos. 562 and 601 together.

As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of resources, including to the Roads Policing Units and I, as Minister have no direct role in the matter. I am assured by the Commissioner that Garda personnel assigned throughout the country, together with the overall policing arrangements and operational strategies are continually monitored and reviewed.  Such monitoring ensures that optimum use is made of resources and the best possible policing service is provided to the general public.

I am informed by the Commissioner that the total strength of the Roads Policing Units on the 30 November 2017, the latest date for which figures are readily available, was 643. In addition, there is a Superintendent and Traffic Inspector attached to each of the five Regions outside of the Dublin Metropolitan Region, and one Superintendent attached to the Policing Road Traffic Bureau.

As the Deputy will be aware, this Government is committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country in order to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and to deter crime.  To achieve this the Government has put in place a plan for an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021 comprising 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Reserve members and 4,000 civilians. We are making real, tangible progress on achieving this goal.

I am informed by the Commissioner that since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, just under 1,600 recruits have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide.  Garda numbers, taking account of retirements, increased to 13,552 at the end of 2017 - an increase of over 600 since the end of 2016.

I am also pleased that funding is in place to maintain this high level of investment in the Garda workforce to ensure that the vision of an overall workforce of 21,000 by 2021 remains on track. This year a further 800 new Garda Recruits will enter the Garda College. Also 800 Garda trainees are scheduled to attest during the year which will see Garda numbers, taking account of projected retirements, reach 14,000 by the end of 2018.

In addition, a further 500 civilians will also be recruited to fill critical skills gaps across the organisation and to facilitate the redeployment of Gardaí from administrative and technical duties to front-line operational duties. There are plans to strengthen the Garda Reserve with new Reserves expected to commence training early in 2018.

This focus on investment in personnel is critical. The moratorium on recruitment introduced in 2010 resulted in a significant reduction in the strength of An Garda Síochána.  We are now rebuilding the organisation and providing the Commissioner with the resources needed to deploy increasing numbers of Gardaí across every Garda Division, including roads policing in the coming years. 

The Commissioner committed in the Policing Plan for 2017 to increase incrementally the number of personnel dedicated to roads policing  by 10% to support better outcomes in relation to road traffic enforcement and crime prevention.

In this regard the Commissioner has confirmed that a review of the roads policing has been completed and a new role and job description for additional personnel for Road Policing Units has been developed. I am advised that a competition to fill vacancies within Traffic Corps units is ongoing at present. At the conclusion of this competition, additional personnel will be allocated to Traffic Corps duties. 

Personnel strength of the Garda Traffic Corps 2008-2017

Division	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
D.M.R.   South Central	22	27	25	25	25	23	17	16	11	7
D.M.R.   North Central	22	22	20	19	19	17	18	18	17	18
D.M.R.   North	22	27	22	21	18	18	17	17	13	15
D.M.R.   East	13	18	19	17	15	15	15	14	9	9
D.M.R.   South	16	19	16	15	13	13	12	12	12	11
D.M.R.   West	20	22	22	22	21	19	19	16	13	12
D.M.R.   Traffic	148	156	155	149	144	138	106	118	107	105
Waterford/Kilkenny	64	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Waterford	-	31	26	25	22	19	18	14	14	13
Wexford	33	29	25	21	16	16	15	14	15	13
Tipperary	46	40	31	28	26	22	23	21	21	21
Kilkenny/Carlow	-	39	38	37	36	32	31	28	26	26
Cork   City	55	51	48	49	45	40	38	36	39	38
Cork   North	41	41	40	39	37	35	34	33	33	33
Cork   West	35	27	28	28	25	21	22	18	22	22
Kerry	35	35	35	31	25	22	20	18	17	18
Limerick	35	33	34	30	32	31	29	26	23	25
Donegal	39	34	42	32	30	29	31	27	20	20
Cavan/Monaghan	37	38	36	29	30	27	24	25	25	21
Sligo/Leitrim	26	34	34	33	34	31	24	24	23	23
Louth	32	30	25	25	22	19	17	16	14	14
Clare	31	29	24	25	18	17	16	18	17	15
Mayo	32	29	27	22	17	12	11	11	11	11
Galway	38	47	51	41	40	39	41	41	39	37
Roscommon/Longford	-	23	23	25	23	22	21	19	19	17
Roscommon/Galway   East	29	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Westmeath	-	27	29	26	24	21	23	20	28	27
Longford/Westmeath	48	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Meath	42	30	31	29	22	20	19	16	17	14
Carlow/Kildare	58	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kildare	-	36	40	41	41	39	36	34	25	24
Laois/Offaly	44	42	35	31	26	24	25	25	22	18
Wicklow	30	30	30	25	24	23	20	21	17	16
Total	1093	1046	1011	940	870	804	742	716	669	643