Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
894. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the staff complement of the Special Detective Unit SDU, Regional Support Units, RSU and Emergency Response Unit, ERU; and the estimated cost of increasing the budget for each of these units by 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%, respectively. [33769/18]
View answerAs the Deputy will appreciate, it is the Garda Commissioner who is responsible for carrying on and managing and controlling generally the administration and business of An Garda Síochána, including the distribution of personnel and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter. I understand that Garda management keeps this distribution under review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities to ensure optimum use is made of the resources.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that for security and operational reasons the strength of the Special Detective Unit, the Emergency Response Unit and the Regional Support Units cannot be provided. I am further informed that for the same reasons, the costs of increasing the budget for these units by the percentages requested cannot be provided.
