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Garda Deployment

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018

Tuesday, 24 July 2018

Ceisteanna (1129, 1130, 1134, 1135)

Denise Mitchell

Ceist:

1129. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of core unit gardaí attached to the Dublin metropolitan region north in each year since 2009 to date in 2018 by division, district and sub-district in tabular form. [34924/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Denise Mitchell

Ceist:

1130. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí attached to the Dublin metropolitan region north by rank in each year since 2009 to date in 2018 by division, district and sub-district in tabular form. [34925/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Denise Mitchell

Ceist:

1134. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the full complement of gardaí in the Dublin metropolitan region north by rank in each year since 2009 to date in 2018 by district and sub-district. [34929/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Denise Mitchell

Ceist:

1135. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of civilian staff attached the Dublin metropolitan region north, in each year since 2009 to date in 2018 by division, district and sub-district, in tabular form. [34930/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1129, 1130, 1134 and 1135 together.

As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of personnel and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter. Garda management keeps this distribution under review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities to ensure optimum use is made of the resources.

This Government is committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country in order to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and to deter crime. To achieve this the Government has put in place a plan for an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021 comprising 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Reserve members and 4,000 civilians. We are making real, tangible progress on achieving this goal.

The moratorium on recruitment introduced in 2010 resulted in a significant reduction in the strength of An Garda Síochána. We are now rebuilding the organisation and providing the Commissioner with the resources needed to deploy increasing numbers of Gardaí across every Division as new Garda recruits come on stream. The work of local Gardaí is also supported by a number of Garda national units such as the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Armed Support Units, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and these specialist units are also receiving significant investment.

I am informed by the Commissioner that since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, almost 2,000 recruits have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide. Garda numbers, taking account of retirements, increased to 13,551 at the end of 2017 – a net increase of over 600 since the end of 2016. This year a further 800 new Garda Recruits will enter the Garda College and we are on track to reach 14,000 by the end of 2018.

In addition, a further 500 civilians will also be recruited to fill critical skills gaps across the organisation and to facilitate the redeployment of Gardaí from administrative and technical duties to front-line operational duties. There are plans to strengthen the Garda Reserve with new Reserves expected to commence training in 2018.

This focus on investment in personnel is critical and I am pleased that funding is in place to maintain this high level of investment in the Garda workforce to ensure that the overall vision for 2021 remains on track.

For the Deputy's information I have set out in the following tables, as supplied by the Commissioner, the latest figures as requested.

Table 1

Table 2. Garda Civilian Staff by Division 2010-2018

Station

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

May-18

D.M.R. South Central

37

33

32

31

28

30

28

63

68

D.M.R. North Central

44

43

40

42

39

38

38

43

42

D.M.R. NORTH

52

49

47

48

46

44

43

39

43

D.M.R. EAST

25

25

25

25

24

23

22

22

25

DMR SOUTH

34

33

32

31

30

28

34

36

36

D.M.R. WEST

53

53

50

50

50

47

47

52

55

Waterford

33

30

30

30

29

26

28

30

33

Wexford

29

28

28

27

28

28

28

32

32

Tipperary

38

37

36

34

35

32

36

41

41

Kilkenny/Carlow

25

26

27

27

27

27

30

31

33

Cork City

63

63

63

61

61

58

58

70

71

Cork North

25

25

24

26

25

25

28

31

33

Cork West

26

24

26

24

24

23

24

26

27

Kerry

33

33

34

34

34

34

34

36

36

Limerick

53

54

52

50

51

51

51

52

54

Donegal

30

30

30

30

30

30

31

36

35

Cavan/Monaghan

38

38

38

37

38

38

37

38

39

Sligo/Leitrim

27

26

24

25

25

27

25

31

31

Louth

24

25

24

24

24

23

23

26

31

Clare

35

35

33

31

31

31

31

31

33

Mayo 

34

35

33

34

33

33

34

32

34

Galway

45

47

46

47

45

46

46

49

60

Roscommon/Longford

26

26

26

27

26

26

28

29

32

Westmeath

23

23

22

22

22

22

21

24

24

Meath

27

28

27

27

27

26

27

30

30

Kildare

30

30

31

30

29

29

30

30

30

Laois/Offaly

25

25

20

23

23

22

22

25

25

Wicklow

25

24

24

22

23

22

23

26

27

Barr
Roinn