Niamh Smyth
Question:125. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí located in counties Cavan, Monaghan and Meath to date in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17922/19]
View answerWednesday, 17 April 2019
Questions (125)
Written answers
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.
Since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, almost 2,600 Garda recruits have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide, of whom 90 were assigned to the Cavan/Monaghan Division and 78 were assigned to the Meath Division.
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 including the Cavan/Monaghan Division and the Meath Division.
The Garda strength by rank of the Cavan/Monaghan Division and the Meath Division, from 2009 to 28 February 2019 as provided by the Garda Commissioner is available on my Department’s website through the following link: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/002_Garda_Numbers_by_Division_District_and_Station_2009_to_February_2019.xlsx/Files/002_Garda_Numbers_by_Division_District_and_Station_2009_to_February_2019.xlsx
For more general information on Garda Facts and Figures please see this link: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/An_Garda_Siochana_facts_and_figures