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Garda Strength

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 September 2020

Thursday, 17 September 2020

Questions (177)

Mark Ward

Question:

177. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Justice the number of new gardaí deployed to the area of community policing over each of the past five years, including the latest recruits attested in 2020, by division, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24684/20]

View answer

Written answers

I have asked An Garda Síochána for the information requested by the Deputy, and I will revert to him when this is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

At the outset I want to emphasise that Community Policing is at the heart of An Garda Síochána.  That is why it is important to recognise that the role of a community Garda is not only 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 as a 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

Since 2015 3488 new Garda members have attested, and all of them have a role to play in fulfilling An Garda Síochána’s role as a community centred police force. It is however not possible to give a breakdown of whether these newly attested members were assigned specifically to the Community Policing roles outlined above, as such assignments are operational decisions for each Division, and it is not possible to collate the data in this way.

For the Deputy’s information, I have appended to this reply a breakdown of the assignment of newly attested Garda members by Division and station since 2015 up to July of this year. For further information about Community Gardaí numbers, I would refer the Deputy to the tables that are available on my Department’s website which cover every year since 2009 and give a breakdown of Gardaí assigned to specific Community Policing roles by Division. These tables are updated monthly and may be found at: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Community_Policing

For the Deputy’s further information, I have also attached a breakdown of the number of Community Gardaí by Division and station as of August 31 2020.

I hope this information is of assistance.

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