Garda Deployment

Tuesday, 22 January 2019

Questions (260)

Lisa Chambers

Question:

260. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí employed in the traffic corps in each of the years 2006 to 2018 and to date in 2019 in County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2820/19]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

As the Deputy is aware, the manner in which the resources of the Garda Síochána are deployed is solely a matter for the Garda Commissioner and his management team and I, as Minister, have no direct role in this regard.

The information sought by the Deputy is currently being collated and I will write to the Deputy when it is available in the format requested.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A

I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 260 for answer on Tuesday, 22 January 2019 the text of which was as follows: "To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí employed in the traffic corps in each of the years 2006 to 2018 and to date in 2019 in County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter.”

At the time I responded that I would request the information sought by the Deputy from the Garda Commissioner and that I would write directly to her on receipt of same. I apologise for the length of time taken to respond.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of resources and I as the Minister for Justice have no direct role in the matter. Garda management keeps the distribution of resources under continual review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities so as to ensure that the optimum use is made of these resources.

I am advised by the Garda Commissioner that the strength of Roads Policing Units on the 30 June 2019, stood at 687, of whom 24 members were allocated to the Mayo Division. In addition, there is one Chief Superintendent and two Superintendents attached to the DMR Roads Policing Units and a Superintendent and Traffic Inspector attached to each of the other five Regions. It is important to note, that road traffic legislation is enforced as part of the day-to-day duties of all members of An Garda Síochána, as well as through specific enforcement operations.

I am further advised by the Commissioner that he plans to recruit a total of 600 trainee Gardaí in 2019 and 600 Garda Civilian Staff. This Garda Staff recruitment will allow the Commissioner to redeploy a further 500 fully trained Gardaí from administrative duties to frontline policing in 2019.

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.

For the Deputy’s information I have set out in the following table the number of Gardaí attached to the Roads Policing Unit by Division, in each of the years 2009 to 30 June 2019, the latest date for which figures are currently available.

I hope that this information is of assistance.

ROADS POLICING 2009 - 2019*

DIVISION	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	Jun-19
D.M.R. EAST	18	19	17	15	15	15	14	9	9	11	9
D.M.R. NORTH	27	22	21	18	18	17	17	13	14	16	15
D.M.R. NORTH CENTRAL	22	20	19	19	17	18	18	17	18	16	16
D.M.R. SOUTH	19	16	15	13	13	12	12	12	10	12	12
D.M.R. SOUTH CENTRAL	27	25	25	25	23	17	16	11	7	15	12
D.M.R. WEST	22	22	22	21	19	19	16	13	12	19	14
D.M.R. TRAFFIC	156	155	149	144	138	106	118	107	101	112	108
KILDARE	36	40	41	41	39	36	34	25	24	28	25
LAOIS / OFFALY	42	35	31	26	24	25	25	22	19	27	25
MEATH	30	31	29	22	20	19	16	17	14	18	15
WESTMEATH	27	29	26	24	21	23	20	28	18	18	18
WICKLOW	30	30	25	24	23	20	21	17	16	22	21
CAVAN / MONAGHAN	38	36	29	30	27	24	25	25	18	26	24
DONEGAL	34	42	32	30	29	31	27	20	20	24	23
LOUTH	30	25	25	22	19	17	16	14	14	21	20
SLIGO / LEITRIM	34	34	33	34	31	24	24	23	23	27	23
KILKENNY/CARLOW	39	38	37	36	32	31	28	26	26	24	23
TIPPERARY	40	31	28	26	22	23	21	21	21	27	26
WATERFORD	31	26	25	22	19	18	14	14	13	16	11
WEXFORD	29	25	21	16	16	15	14	15	13	22	20
CORK CITY	51	48	49	45	40	38	36	39	37	36	32
CORK NORTH	41	40	39	37	35	34	33	33	33	29	26
CORK WEST	27	28	28	25	21	22	18	22	21	22	23
KERRY	35	35	31	25	22	20	18	17	18	21	20
LIMERICK	33	34	30	32	31	29	26	23	24	31	29
CLARE	29	24	25	18	17	16	18	17	15	19	19
GALWAY	47	51	41	40	39	41	41	39	37	39	36
MAYO	29	27	22	17	12	11	11	11	11	25	24
ROSCOMMON / LONGFORD	23	23	25	23	22	21	19	19	17	21	18
TOTAL	1046	1011	940	870	804	742	716	669	623	744	687