Tuesday, 24 Jul 2018

Garda Data

Ceisteanna (1059)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1059. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí by rank attached to the operational support unit in the Kilkenny division in each of the years 2009 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form. [34770/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

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.

I am informed by the Garda Commissioner that the Garda National Operational Support Unit is comprised of the following Specialist Support Units:

- Air Support Unit;

- Dog Unit;

- Mounted Unit; and

- Water Unit.

These are national that units support the work of all the Garda Divisions and data is therefore only available at national level.

For the Deputy's information, the table below, as supplied by the Commissioner, sets out the latest figures as requested.

Garda National Operational Support Services 2009-2018*

YEAR	GD	SG	IN	SU	DC	TOTAL
2009	57	7	1	1	0	66
2010	55	6	1	1	0	63
2011	53	10	1	0	0	64
2012	53	8	1	1	0	63
2013	53	7	1	1	0	62
2014	49	6	1	1	0	57
2015	47	6	1	1	1	56
2016	48	8	1	0	0	57
2017	62	10	3	1	0	76
2018*	62	10	1	1	0	74

*Up to 31 May 2018

Garda Data

Ceisteanna (1060)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1060. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí by rank attached to the traffic corps unit in the Kilkenny division in each of the years 2009 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form. [34771/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

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.

Following an internal examination of the role and function of the Divisional Garda Traffic Corps they were renamed as Divisional Garda Road Policing Units to reflect the role the Units will play in denying criminals the use of the roads network. In addition to their focus on the lifesaver offences of speeding, seatbelts, mobile phones and driving under the influence, they also focus on crime prevention and crime detection.

It is important to note that road traffic legislation is enforced as part of the day-to-day duties of all members of An Garda Síochána. The Divisional Roads Policing units work closely with other Divisional units to target known criminals and to disrupt their activities through strict enforcement of road traffic legislation.

The Commissioner established the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau (GNRPB) which is responsible for the oversight and strategic management of policing our roads network and for ensuring a consistent approach to road safety and enforcement of road traffic legislation across the country. I am pleased to say that I obtained sanction for a number of additional posts for the GNRPB, including: an Assistant Commissioner to head it up; a Chief Superintendent responsible for Roads Planning and Major Event Management; and two specialist posts at Superintendent rank, one for Roads Policing and one for Major Event Management.

The 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. Budget 2018 supports the continuation of this high level of investment in the Garda workforce to ensure that the vision of an overall workforce of 21,000 by 2021 remains on track.

I am advised by the Garda Commissioner that the total strength of Roads Policing Units nationwide is currently at 680 including 87 that were assigned in the first quarter of this year following completion of regional competitions for assignment to roads policing duties. A further 63 will be assigned by year end.

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

TRAFFIC CORPS 2009 -2018

DIVISION	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	May-18
D.M.R. EAST	18	19	17	15	15	15	14	9	9	13
D.M.R. NORTH	27	22	21	18	18	17	17	13	14	14
D.M.R. NORTH CENTRAL	22	20	19	19	17	18	18	17	18	18
D.M.R. SOUTH	19	16	15	13	13	12	12	12	10	10
D.M.R. SOUTH CENTRAL	27	25	25	25	23	17	16	11	7	9
D.M.R. WEST	22	22	22	21	19	19	16	13	12	18
D.M.R. TRAFFIC	156	155	149	144	138	106	118	107	101	104
KILDARE	36	40	41	41	39	36	34	25	24	27
LAOIS / OFFALY	42	35	31	26	24	25	25	22	19	22
LOUTH / MEATH	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MEATH	30	31	29	22	20	19	16	17	14	16
WESTMEATH	27	29	26	24	21	23	20	28	18	18
WICKLOW	30	30	25	24	23	20	21	17	16	19
CAVAN / MONAGHAN	38	36	29	30	27	24	25	25	18	23
DONEGAL	34	42	32	30	29	31	27	20	20	21
LOUTH	30	25	25	22	19	17	16	14	14	19
SLIGO / LEITRIM	34	34	33	34	31	24	24	23	23	22
KILKENNY/CARLOW	39	38	37	36	32	31	28	26	26	22
TIPPERARY	40	31	28	26	22	23	21	21	21	26
WATERFORD	31	26	25	22	19	18	14	14	13	13
WEXFORD	29	25	21	16	16	15	14	15	13	15
CORK CITY	51	48	49	45	40	38	36	39	37	37
CORK NORTH	41	40	39	37	35	34	33	33	33	33
CORK WEST	27	28	28	25	21	22	18	22	21	22
KERRY	35	35	31	25	22	20	18	17	18	24
LIMERICK	33	34	30	32	31	29	26	23	24	24
CLARE	29	24	25	18	17	16	18	17	15	18
GALWAY	47	51	41	40	39	41	41	39	37	37
MAYO	29	27	22	17	12	11	11	11	11	16
ROSCOMMON / LONGFORD	23	23	25	23	22	21	19	19	17	20
TOTAL	1046	1011	940	870	804	742	716	669	623	680

Garda Data

Ceisteanna (1061)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1061. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí by rank attached to the public order unit in the Kilkenny division in each of the years 2009 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form. [34772/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

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.

I am informed by the Commissioner that there are Gardaí with specialist training in public order policing in each Division who are available to be called upon when required to police events with an increased risk of a public order incident occurring, such as, protests or large scale public events. The number of Gardaí called upon is dependent on the nature of the event. As such there are no Gardaí assigned to public order units on a full time basis.

Garda Data

Ceisteanna (1062)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1062. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí by rank attached to the community relations unit in the Kilkenny division in each of the years 2009 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form [34773/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

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.

Community policing is at the heart of An Garda Síochána. The role of a community Garda is not a specialist role in An Garda Síochána; rather all Gardaí engage in community policing while carrying out their normal duties. The official categorisation of Community Garda refers to those exclusively assigned to building relationships with local communities and civil society which includes giving talks to schools, community groups and others.

I am assured by the Commissioner that the Garda National Model of Community Policing plays a key part in responding to crime. The Model advocates a partnership based, community based style of policing to prevent and deter crime and works through initiatives such as Neighbourhood Watch, Community Alert, Text Alert and the Garda Schools Programme as well as through more formal structures such as Joint Policing Committees. While building trust and enhancing the quality of life of the community each Garda Division’s specialist Crime Prevention Officers (CPOs) are trained to encourage, promote and advise on crime prevention. The objectives of the community policing model include high visibility in the community, ease of contact by members of the public, and enhanced support for crime prevention strategies.

The National Community Policing Office which is attached to the Garda Community Engagement Bureau, captures best practice in community policing initiatives and disseminates these practices through its communication network.

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.

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.

The attached table, as supplied by the Commissioner, sets out the latest figures for Community Gardaí by Division and Station as requested.

Community Garda

Garda Reserve

Ceisteanna (1063)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1063. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Garda Reserve members in the Kilkenny division by division, district and sub-district, in each of the years 2009 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form. [34774/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

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.

I am advised by the Commissioner that the strength of the Reserve is currently 558. It is regrettable that there has been a substantial reduction in the strength of the Reserve in recent years from a peak of 1,164 in 2013. The fall-off arises from a range of factors, not least the lifting in 2014 of the moratorium on recruitment of trainee Gardaí which has affected the number of Reserve in two ways: firstly, serving Reserves are successfully applying to become trainee Gardaí, and secondly, the focus has been on delivering an accelerated programme of recruitment of full time members of An Garda Síochána.

I am sure that the Deputy will agree, notwithstanding the very valuable contribution of Reserve members throughout the country, that the prioritising of recruitment campaigns to replenish the full-time ranks of An Garda Síochána over the last three years was the right decision.

The "Programme for a Partnership Government" includes a commitment to double the Garda Reserve and a plan is in place to achieve a Reserve strength of 2,000 by 2021. With the plan to reach 15,000 Garda members well on track, it was possible for the Commissioner and the Public Appointments Service to undertake a new recruitment campaign for Garda Reserves last March. That competition attracted 2,394 applicants of whom 498 successfully completed the initial stages. These applications are currently being processed by the Garda Appointments Office. It is expected that the first of the successful candidates will commence training in the Garda College in the coming months.

To inform future decisions around the optimal use of Reserves, An Garda Síochána is conducting a strategic review as set out in the Policing Plan 2018. As a first step, the Garda Executive has taken a decision to transfer the management of the Reserve to the Assistant Commissioner with responsibility for Community Engagement. This is intended to ensure that its development and deployment is viewed more broadly through a community policing lens. This is a very welcome step as it is my strong view that the greatest dividend to be gained from the Reserve is in terms of a visible presence on the ground and engaging with local communities.

The attached table, as supplied by the Commissioner, sets out the latest figures for Reserve Gardaí by Division only as the data is not compiled by district or sub-district.

STRENGTH OF GARDA RESERVES 2009 - 2018

DIVISION	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	May-18
Waterford	18	22	26	31	36	34	32	24	19	19
Wexford	7	18	28	29	32	37	37	22	18	17
Kilkenny/Carlow	11	21	30	33	40	38	34	26	26	26
Tipperary	17	21	30	36	41	42	28	23	17	16
Cork North	7	15	19	20	30	29	24	16	13	12
Cork City	36	46	52	58	73	68	65	48	42	42
Cork West	8	15	23	27	26	29	23	12	10	8
Kerry	4	10	22	26	36	32	31	21	20	20
Limerick	16	32	41	47	52	51	53	36	29	26
Donegal	12	21	25	28	28	26	27	21	16	14
Cavan/Monaghan	7	13	18	20	25	23	19	14	11	11
Sligo/Leitrim	9	17	18	21	24	27	27	21	17	16
Louth	15	31	34	45	55	52	41	33	25	23
Clare	8	11	17	18	15	13	8	7	6	6
Mayo	18	22	29	31	35	35	32	23	20	19
Galway	30	44	57	64	69	63	43	36	31	31
Roscommon/Longford	7	15	17	18	20	15	11	11	9	7
Westmeath	10	19	19	22	27	25	20	13	13	12
Meath	8	17	28	33	44	42	33	18	16	16
Kildare	14	22	24	24	41	41	30	22	20	18
Laois/Offaly	11	14	23	31	31	28	24	19	17	16
Wicklow	10	14	22	29	41	31	24	21	20	20
DMR East	15	20	16	17	20	20	19	15	10	8
DMR North	50	64	74	63	59	61	57	49	45	42
DMR North Central	21	24	36	50	71	73	59	42	36	35
DMR South	29	43	43	47	51	45	35	26	20	17
DMR South Central	34	39	54	64	77	80	66	48	37	35
DMR West	46	50	52	59	65	64	51	28	26	26
TOTAL	478	700	877	991	1164	1124	953	695	589	558

Garda Training

Ceisteanna (1064)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1064. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of member training hours per annum that are allocated to core gardaí attached to the Kilkenny division in each of the years 2009 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form. [34775/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

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.

I am advised by the Commissioner that An Garda Síochána is not in a position to provide the specific information requested by the Deputy as it would require a disproportionate amount of Garda time and resources to collate the data requested.

Crime Data

Ceisteanna (1065)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1065. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of crimes by type of offences in each of the years 2009 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in the Kilkenny division by division, district, and sub-district in tabular form. [34776/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

The Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of the official recorded crime statistics, and the CSO has established a dedicated unit for this purpose. I have asked the CSO to forward the available statistics in relation to the information requested directly to the Deputy.

Garda Data

Ceisteanna (1066)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1066. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí attached to specialist units in the Kilkenny division. [34778/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

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 the latest data for the national specialist units which form Garda Special Crime Operations. It is important to note that these are national units which support the work of the 28 Garda Divisions across the Country and are consequently not broken down by Division.

I am informed by the Commissioner that the Special Detective Unit (SDU) is responsible for the investigation of threats to state security and the monitoring of persons who pose a threat to the security of the State on both national and international fronts. The Unit also provides security for visiting VIPs, cash in transit movements and armed response and is the operational wing of the Witness Security Programme. The highly trained and equipped specialist intervention unit, the Emergency Response Unit, is also part of SDU.

I am advised by the Commissioner that for security and operational reasons the strength of the SDU, ERU, Regional Support Units and the Special Tactics and Operational Command Unit cannot be provided.

Strength of Garda Special Crime Operations 31 May 2018

	CR	DC	AC	CS	SU	IN	SG	GD	TOTAL
Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau	0	0	0	1	3	2	20	88	114
Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	17	23
Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (formerly Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation)	0	0	0	1	2	2	16	47	68
Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation	0	0	0	1	3	0	15	62	81
Garda National Protective Services Bureau	0	0	0	0	3	2	17	41	63
Garda National Technical Bureau	0	0	0	0	1	2	16	49	68
Criminal Assets Bureau	0	0	0	1	1	0	9	31	42

Community Policing

Ceisteanna (1067)

Kathleen Funchion

Ceist:

1067. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of dedicated community gardaí attached to the Kilkenny division; and each district within it. [34779/18]