Denise Mitchell
Question:658. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice the number of Garda stations without access to broadband. [36332/20]
View answerTuesday, 17 November 2020
Questions (658)
Written answers
The Deputy will appreciate that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for managing and controlling generally the administration and business of An Garda Síochána, and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter.
I have requested information from the Garda Commissioner in relation to this matter but it was unfortunately not possible to compile it in the time available.
I will write to the Deputy directly with the information requested, when it is available.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51
I refer to your Parliamentary Question (No. 658 of 17 November 2020) where you sought:
“….the number of Garda stations without access to broadband”.
As you will recall, I sought the information you requested from the Garda authorities and undertook to contact you again once the report was to hand.
The report is now to hand and I am informed by the Garda authorities that all Garda stations are now networked by using fixed line broadband or mobile broadband. There are 565 Garda Station locations in Ireland and 541 of these stations have access to PULSE using traditional Computer equipment and fixed line broadband.
Garda members in the remaining 24 smaller stations have access using their Mobile Data Station (MDS) in desktop mode over mobile broadband. The infrastructure and hardware for these smaller sites is in place and newly assigned members arrive with their MDS devices to access services.
I understand that since 2018, 78 additional Garda stations have been connected to the Garda network, including Stepaside and Rush Garda stations this year. While I had sought further details from the Garda authorities on the number of Garda stations connected to the Garda network in recent years, the Garda authorities have advised me that this information would take a disproportionate amount of time and resources to gather this information.
As the Deputy may know, the government signed the contract to deliver the National Broadband Plan last year, which will ensure that every home, school, farm and business has access to high speed internet. When the roll out is complete, every Garda station will be able to access high speed fibre broadband.
I hope this information is of assistance to you.
Question No. 659 answered with Question No. 650.
Question No. 660 answered with Question No. 657.