As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, for the management and administration of Garda business. Under the Act, the Commissioner is also responsible for determining the deployment of members of An Garda Síochána throughout the State and, as Minister, I have no role in these independent functions.
I am assured, however, that Garda management keeps the distribution of resources under continual review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities, to ensure their optimal use.
The Deputy may wish to know that my Department publishes statistics on Garda members monthly on the Department of Justice website and these figures can be viewed at: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Garda_Workforce
The table below contains the Garda members assigned to the Laytown station by rank for the years 2016 - 2020 and to the end of May 2021, the latest date when figures were available.
LAYTOWN
|
YEAR
|
INP
|
SGT
|
GDA
|
TOTAL
|
|
2016
|
|
2
|
18
|
20
|
|
2017
|
|
3
|
18
|
21
|
|
2018
|
|
3
|
16
|
19
|
|
2019
|
|
2
|
16
|
18
|
|
2020
|
|
3
|
19
|
22
|
|
2021*
|
1
|
2
|
19
|
22
|
* Figures at 31st May 2021