Garda Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 March 2019

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Ceisteanna (580)

Mattie McGrath

Ceist:

580. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of drug driving arrests made by county in the south-eastern Garda division from 2014 to 2018, inclusive, and to date in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14159/19]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

As arrest data is not recorded by the Department, I have asked An Garda Síochána whether these statistics can be compiled. Once a report is received, I will forward the data directly to the Deputy.

The Deputy may already be aware that similar data on recorded crime offences for "driving/in charge of a vehicle under the influence of drugs", by division and quarter is publically available from the Central Statistics Office under classification code 0413:

https://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/Define.asp?maintable=CJQ03&PLanguage=0 

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A

I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 580 of 26 March 2019 in which the Deputy asked for the number of drug driving arrests made by county in the south eastern Garda division from 2014 to 2018 and to date in 2019. The Deputy will recall that I sought a report from An Garda Síochána which is now at hand.

I am informed that incidents for driving under the influence of an intoxicant are not divided into separate alcohol and drug offences and therefore the specific information you requested is not available. However, I am informed that An Garda Síochána has conducted 18,852 Mandatory Intoxicant Testing Checkpoints in the South Eastern Region since the introduction of Mandatory Intoxicant Testing Checkpoints on 13 April, 2017 and up until 24 March, 2019).

The following tables provide the number of arrests for driving under the influence of an intoxicant (including both drug and alcohol), divided by region and county. Please note that statistics provided are provisional and liable to change and are correct as of 24th March, 2019.

Number of Arrests for Driving under the Influence from 2014-2019 (as of 24/03/2019)

DUI Arrests	-	-	-	-	-	-
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Dublin Region	1678	1544	1604	1632	1665	366
Eastern Region	1118	1119	1329	1556	1623	330
Northern Region	1040	1001	1166	1285	1242	272
South Eastern Region	1126	1073	1152	1369	1400	298
Southern Region	1574	1580	1638	1752	1680	347
Western Region	1058	1100	1179	1329	1242	241

DUI Arrests South Eastern Region	-	-	-	-	-	-
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Waterford	248	225	269	268	254	59
Tipperary	361	330	314	477	480	100
Kilkenny/Carlow	279	263	282	287	305	65
Wexford	238	255	287	337	361	74

The following table shows the number of motorists that have tested positive for an intoxicant at these checkpoints, as broken down per county .

POSITIVE ROADSIDE BREATH TESTS & ORAL FLUID TESTS AT MIT CHECKPOINTS – SOUTH EASTERN REGION

Division	Date Period	No. of Positive Roadside Breath Tests	No. of Positive Oral Fluid Tests
Tipperary	13/04/17 – 24/03/19	131	7
Waterford	13/04/17 – 24/03/19	100	7
Wexford	13/04/17 – 24/03/19	172	27
Kilkenny/Carlow	13/04/17 – 24/03/19	135	8

I hope this information is of some assistance.