Joe Flaherty
Ceist:112. Deputy Joe Flaherty asked the Minister for Justice the number of gardaí currently based in County Longford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8615/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 17 February 2022
Ceisteanna (112)
Freagraí scríofa
As the Deputy will be aware, in accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, which includes decisions on the deployment of personnel among the various Garda Divisions. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.
I am assured, however, that Garda management keeps this distribution of resources under continual review in the context of policing priorities and crime trends, to ensure their optimum use. I understand that it is a matter for the Divisional Chief Superintendent to determine the optimum distribution of duties among the personnel available to them, having regard to the profile of each area within the Division and its specific needs.
Budget 2022 has provided an unprecedented allocation of in excess of €2 billion to An Garda Síochána, which includes funding for the recruitment of up to 800 additional Garda trainees and 400 Garda staff. This significant investment demonstrates the Government's commitment to increasing the Garda workforce to enable the organisation to keep our communities safe, and to preventing crime in all its forms.
I can confirm that at 31 January 2022 there were 298 Gardaí assigned to Roscommon/Longford Division of whom 92 were assigned to Longford District.
The table at the following link, which has been provided to me by the Garda authorities, shows the number of Gardaí attached to the Roscommon/Longford Division at 31 January 2022.
Detailed information in relation to Garda numbers is available on my Department’s website. This information is updated every month with the latest data provided by An Garda Síochána, and includes the number of Gardaí by station across the whole country.
The information can be found at the following link: www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/An_Garda_Siochana_facts_and_figures
As the Deputy will be aware, Longford is one of three areas in the pilot scheme for Local Community Safety Partnerships, alongside Dublin's North Inner City and Waterford. The Longford pilot is chaired by Ms Martina Maloney. These new structures are designed to take a holistic approach to safety issues in partnership with the community. They operate at local authority administrative level and will be made up of local representatives, a range of local services, community representatives and residents. Each Partnership will devise a Local Community Safety Plan to address the specific needs of their community. The pilot scheme is scheduled to run for two years and will inform a national rollout to all local authority areas.