Garda Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 February 2021

Wednesday, 10 February 2021

Questions (636)

Richard O'Donoghue

Question:

636. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Justice the number of bench warrants outstanding by county as of 31 December 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6981/21]

Written answers

Minister for Justice

The Deputy will be aware that the Garda Commissioner is, by law, responsible for the administration and business of An Garda Síochána, including the allocation of Garda resources in respect of identified operational demands. As Minister, I have no direct role in these decisions.

As the Deputy will appreciate, difficulties in relation to the execution of warrants, including bench warrants, are a long-standing issue for many police services around the world; notably relating to persons actively seeking to evade detection and where limited identification information might be available to support enforcement. I am assured, however, that An Garda Síochána execute warrants as expeditiously as possible, giving priority to the execution of warrants relating to serious crimes.

The following table, furnished to me by the Garda authorities, shows the number of outstanding bench warrants as of 31 December 2020 for each Garda Division.

Division	Outstanding Warrants
D.M.R. Eastern	762
D.M.R. North Central	5811
D.M.R. Northern	4490
D.M.R. South Central	1848
D.M.R. Southern	3115
D.M.R. Western	5317
Kildare Division	868
Kilkenny/Carlow	668
Laois/Offaly	233
Meath Division	448
Waterford Division	394
Westmeath Division	281
Wexford Division	419
Wicklow Division	467
Cavan/Monaghan	892
Donegal	789
Galway Division	833
Louth Division	620
Mayo	230
Roscommon/Longford Division	170
Sligo/Leitrim	282
Clare	178
Cork City	1015
Cork North	325
Cork West	169
Kerry	462
Limerick	989
Tipperary	489

I am informed that these figures were collated based on PULSE data as of 4 February 2021. As they constitute real time operational data, they are liable to change.