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Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021

Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Questions (737)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

737. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if a schedule will be provided of the number of direct impact munitions, sprays and tasers that An Garda Síochána had at its disposal in 2019 and 2020; and the number of officers trained to use these devices. [1810/21]

View answer

Written answers

The Deputy will appreciate that the Garda Commissioner is responsible by law for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána. I, as Minister, have no direct role in these matters.

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 Parliamentary Question Number 737 for answer on 13 January 2021, in which you requested a schedule of the number of direct impact munitions, sprays and tasers that An Garda Síochána has at its disposal in 2019 and 2020; and the number of officers trained to use these devices.. You will recall that the information could not be obtained in the time available and I undertook to consult with An Garda Síochána and contact you again when the information was available.
You will be aware that the Garda Commissioner is by law responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including personnel matters such as training, and deployment of resources such as direct impact munitions, sprays and tasers. The allocation of Garda resources is made in light of identified operational demand. As Minister, I have no direct role in the matter.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that for operational and security reasons, An Garda Síochána cannot release the figures for the direct impact munitions, sprays and tasers at its disposal in 2019 and 2020.
I am further informed by the Garda authorities that number of members trained to use these devices for 2019/2020 is shown in the following table.

Number of Individual Members trained in the following for 2019/2020

Training

2019

2020

40 mm Launcher Basic

43

25

40mm Launcher Refresher

224

299

Total

267

324

Taser Basic

68

23

Taser Refresher

297

360

Total

365

383

I hope that this information is of assistance.
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