I propose to take Questions Nos. 441, 442, 444 to 456, inclusive, 458, 459, 461, 463 and 465 to 471, inclusive, together.
As the Deputy will appreciate, it is the Garda Commissioner who is responsible for the distribution of resources, including personnel, among the various Garda Divisions and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter. Garda management keeps this 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.
With regard to numbers of Gardaí attached to divisions and stations or in particular roles or units much of the data requested is on my Department’s website and is updated every month with the latest data provided by An Garda Síochána.
For general information on Garda Facts and Figures below is the link to the website:
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/An_Garda_Siochana_facts_and_figures
More specific data for the Dublin Metropolitan Region North and North Central are available via the following links:
Overall Garda Workforce Strength 2006 to January 2019
Garda Numbers by Division District and Station 2009 to 31 January 2019
Garda Numbers by Division 2006 to 31 January 2019
Roads Policing Unit 2009 to 31 January 2019
Community Garda Strength 2008 to 31 January 2019
Garda Reserve Strength 2009 to 31 January 2019
Civilian Staff by Division and Station 2010 to 31 January 2019
Allocation of Probationer Gardaí by Division and Station 2014 to January 2019
My officials are currently in the process of developing the website to provide additional information and data about other roles and units and I would encourage the deputy and colleagues to avail of this resource.
I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate a number of points regarding An Garda Síochána which I believe are important to emphasise.
- Community policing is at the heart of An Garda Síochána as it recognises that every community, either urban or rural, has its own concerns and expectations. The role of a community Garda is not a specialist role in An Garda Síochána; rather it is the case that all Gardaí have a role to play in community policing in carrying out their duties. The official categorisation of Community Garda simply refers to those who are exclusively assigned to building relationships with local communities and civil society including giving talks to schools, community groups and others. It is a matter for the Divisional Chief Superintendent to determine the optimum distribution of duties among the personnel available to him or her having regard to the profile of the area and its specific needs.
- When appropriate, the work of local Gardaí is supported by a number of Garda national units such as the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. These national specialist units which form Garda Special Crime Operations are national units which support the work of the 28 Garda Divisions across the Country and are consequently not broken down by Division. Other examples of these include: the Special Detective Unit (SDU) which is responsible for the investigation of threats to state security and the monitoring of persons who pose a threat to the security of the State on both national and international fronts. The Unit also provides security for visiting VIPs, cash in transit movements and armed response and is the operational wing of the Witness Security Programme. The highly trained and equipped specialist intervention unit, the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) is also part of SDU. As the Deputy will appreciate, for security and operational reasons the strength of the SDU, ERU, Regional Support Units and the Special Tactics and Operational Command (STOC) Unit cannot be provided.
- There are Gardaí with specialist training in public order policing in each Division who are available to be called upon when required to police events with an increased risk of a public order incident occurring, such as, protests or large scale public events. The number of Gardaí called upon is dependent on the nature of the event. As such there are no Gardaí assigned to public order units on a full time basis.
- Garda Juvenile Liaison Officers (JLOs) are specially trained to fulfil a key role in implementing the Garda Diversion Programme. Their role includes the administration of formal and informal cautions as well as appropriate supervision of children who have been admitted to the Diversion Programme, as provided in Part 4 of the Children Act 2001.
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.
Since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, almost 2,600 Garda recruits have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide, including 200 trainees who passed out from the college on 8th March.
I am 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. The Government has increased the budget for An Garda Síochána to €1.76 billion for 2019, which includes provision for the recruitment of up to 800 Gardaí this year. The Commissioner has now informed me 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.
I believe that the injection of this large number of experienced officers into the field, along with the new recruits, will be really beneficial in terms of protecting communities. This and on-going recruitment will clearly provide the Commissioner with the resources needed to deploy increasing numbers of Gardaí to deliver a visible effective and responsive policing service to communities across all Garda Divisions
For the Deputy's information I have set out in the tables attached additional data in relation to the current strength of Garda national units, and in relation to numbers of community Gardaí and juvenile liaison officers in the areas in question, which is currently not available on our website.
Strength of Garda Special Crime Operations 31 January 2019
|
CR
|
DC
|
AC
|
CS
|
SU
|
IN
|
SG
|
GD
|
TOTAL
|
Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
16
|
87
|
111
|
Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
5
|
21
|
28
|
Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (formerly Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation)
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
11
|
47
|
63
|
Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
15
|
55
|
77
|
Garda National Protective Services Bureau
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
16
|
41
|
64
|
Garda National Technical Bureau
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
16
|
46
|
65
|
Criminal Assets Bureau
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
6
|
35
|
45
|
*As of 31 January 2019
Garda National Immigration Bureau 2009 - 2019*
Year
|
Garda
|
Sergeant
|
Inspector
|
SU
|
CS
|
Total
|
2009
|
164
|
22
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
194
|
2010
|
154
|
19
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
181
|
2011
|
149
|
17
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
174
|
2012
|
134
|
15
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
157
|
2013
|
126
|
15
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
146
|
2014
|
120
|
12
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
137
|
2015
|
105
|
9
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
119
|
2016
|
99
|
9
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
115
|
2017
|
102
|
15
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
122
|
2018
|
96
|
12
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
115
|
2019
|
94
|
12
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
113
|
*As of 31 January 2019
Juvenile Liaison Officers Divisions 2009 - 2019*
Division
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019*
|
DMR North
|
12
|
11
|
11
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
13
|
13
|
12
|
12
|
12
|
DMR North Central
|
4
|
3
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
5
|
*As of 31 January 2019
Garda Strength Presented - Community Gardaí - Total
DMR North Division 31 January 2019
Year
|
Community Gardaí
|
Total
|
2009
|
71
|
832
|
2010
|
76
|
803
|
2011
|
76
|
779
|
2012
|
86
|
744
|
2013
|
68
|
714
|
2014
|
57
|
681
|
2015
|
58
|
668
|
2016
|
53
|
676
|
2017
|
47
|
670
|
2018
|
51
|
715
|
2019*
|
50
|
714
|
Garda Strength Presented - Community Gardaí - Total
DMR North Central Division 31 January 2019
Year
|
Community Gardaí
|
Total
|
2009
|
178
|
719
|
2010
|
159
|
693
|
2011
|
140
|
660
|
2012
|
143
|
654
|
2013
|
152
|
624
|
2014
|
139
|
607
|
2015
|
121
|
590
|
2016
|
110
|
612
|
2017
|
90
|
611
|
2018
|
83
|
655
|
2019*
|
84
|
670
|
Garda Bureau of Community Engagement 31 January 2019
Rank
|
CR
|
DC
|
AC
|
CS
|
SU
|
IN
|
SG
|
GD
|
Total
|
Total
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
16
|
3
|
26
|
*As of 31 January 2019
Garda National Operational Support Services 2009-2019*
YEAR
|
GD
|
SG
|
IN
|
SU
|
DC
|
TOTAL
|
2009
|
57
|
7
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
66
|
2010
|
55
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
63
|
2011
|
53
|
10
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
64
|
2012
|
53
|
8
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
63
|
2013
|
53
|
7
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
62
|
2014
|
49
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
57
|
2015
|
47
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
56
|
2016
|
48
|
8
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
57
|
2017
|
62
|
10
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
76
|
2018
|
63
|
9
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
74
|
2019
|
63
|
9
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
74
|
*Up to 31 January 2019