Clare Daly
Ceist:398. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the crime statistics in Rush in County Dublin for the first three months of every year between 2012 and 2015. [14796/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 15 April 2015
Ceisteanna (398, 399)
Clare Daly
Ceist:399. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans for policing in the Rush area in County Dublin; her views that the community is adequately covered by present arrangements; and the basis for her belief. [14797/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 398 and 399 together.
The town of Rush currently forms part of Balbriggan Garda District. I am advised by the Commissioner that the personnel strength of Balbriggan Garda District is 82 full-time Gardaí, 5 Garda Reservists and 5 civilian staff. The Deputy will be aware that all Gardaí have responsibility, inter alia, to deal with Community Policing issues as and when they arise. However, there are currently 2 dedicated Community Police Officers attached to Balbriggan Garda station.
The Deputy will be aware that the Commissioner, in consultation with her senior management team, is responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, throughout the organisation and I as Minister have no direct role in the matter. This allocation of resources is constantly monitored in the context of demographics, crime trends, policing needs and other operational strategies in place on District, Divisional and Regional levels to ensure optimum use is made of Garda resources and the best possible Garda service is provided to the public.
Following the recommencement of Garda recruitment the Garda Commissioner will soon be in a position to assign newly attested Gardai to stations throughout the country. Since September 2014, 300 new recruits have entered the Garda College and the first 100 of these will attest as members of An Garda Síochána in May, with 100 more due to attest in August 2015. The Government is committed to ensuring that recruitment to An Garda Síochána continues seamlessly and this commitment is underlined by the provision which has been made for an additional 250 recruits to commence training in Templemore in the current year.
With regard to the crime statistics requested by the Deputy, the Garda Síochána Act 2005 makes provision for the compilation and publication of crime statistics by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, and the CSO has established a dedicated unit for this purpose.
I have requested the CSO to provide the available statistics directly to the Deputy. In this regard it should be noted that the CSO is currently carrying out a detailed analysis of certain issues raised by the Garda Inspectorate in relation to the recording, classification and reclassification of crime, to see whether and to what extent they may have implications for the crime statistics which that Office produces. The CSO have advised that this has led to a delay in the publication of crime statistics and the latest published crime statistics relate to the second quarter of 2014.