Vol. 571 No. 1
1187 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the initiatives he intends to undertake to provide additional gardaí in the east Meath area to deal with the incidents of crime being committed there; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20556/03]
I am informed by the Garda authorities, who are responsible for the day to day allocation of resources, including personnel, that the east Meath area is policed by the Louth-Meath Garda division. The personnel strength, all ranks, of the Louth-Meath division as at 24 September 2003 was 536. This represents an increase of 38 or 7.6% in the personnel allocated to the Louth/Meath division since 31 December 1997. It is the responsibility of the divisional officer to allocate personnel within a division.
The Government is prioritising Garda recruitment and training to bring the strength of the force up to its maximum authorised strength of 12,200 as soon as possible. To this end, a new Garda recruitment competition is under way. It is planned that 690 Garda trainees will be taken into the Garda college during 2003. The commissioner has projected, based on the anticipated rate of retirement, that this level of recruitment will result in the maximum authorised strength of 12,200 being achieved during 2004.
These extra gardaí will be assigned to the areas of greatest need and the needs of the east Meath area and the Louth-Meath division will be fully considered within the overall context of the needs of the Garda divisions throughout the country.
