I propose to take Questions Nos. 660, 699, 730 and 799 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.
For the Deputy's information the attached table, received from the Garda authorities, presents staffing numbers for the Garda National Immigration Bureau, which forms part of the Garda Special Crime Operations. It is important to note that this is a national unit which supports the immigration-related work of all the Garda Divisions across the Country and the strength of the Bureau is consequently not broken down by Division.
Garda National Immigration Bureau 2009 - 2018
Year
|
Garda
|
Sergeant
|
Inspector
|
SU
|
CS
|
Total
|
31/12/2009
|
164
|
22
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
194
|
31/12/2010
|
154
|
19
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
181
|
31/12/2011
|
149
|
17
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
174
|
31/12/2012
|
134
|
15
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
157
|
31/12/2013
|
126
|
15
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
146
|
31/12/2014
|
120
|
12
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
137
|
31/12/2015
|
105
|
9
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
119
|
31/12/2016
|
99
|
9
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
115
|
31/12/2017
|
102
|
15
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
122
|
31/05/2018
|
98
|
14
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
117
|