I am informed by the Garda authorities that given the large number of regions, divisions and specialist units within the Garda organisation, as well as the central management of general overheads such as ICT and the Garda fleet, budgets are not allocated on a specialist unit basis.
However, I am advised that the table below, which has been provided to me by the Garda authorities, sets out the annual spend for the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau in 2020 and from January to August 2021. Salary costs are included in the total expenditure figures.
Specialist Unit
|
2020
|
2021
(January- August)
|
Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau
|
€13,218,730
|
€8,528,244
|
Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau
|
€2,555,161
|
€2,130,740
|
As the Deputy is aware, the Criminal Asset Bureau is accounted for in the Justice Vote. I can confirm that the total budget allocation, including salary costs, for the Criminal Assets Bureau in 2020 was €9.1 million and this was increased to €9.96 million for 2021.