Departmental Data

Thursday, 1 December 2022

Ceisteanna (323)

Pearse Doherty

Ceist:

323. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Justice the number of incidents of fraudulent insurance claims reported by the insurance industry to An Garda Síochána in each of the years 2016 to 2021 and to date in 2022, by the insurance industry. [60105/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice

I have contacted An Garda Síochána for the information requested by the Deputy, regretfully this information was not available in time. I will write to the Deputy once the information is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51:

As you will be aware, in accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including all operational policing matters. As Minister, I have no role in these matters, nor can I direct the Commissioner with regard to them. The Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities and ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs, which is reflected in an allocation of over €2 billion under Budget 2023.

I am assured by the Garda authorities that the distribution of Garda resources is kept under constant review, in light of policing priorities and emerging crime trends.

The table below, provided to me by the Garda authorities, outlines the number of fraudulent insurance claims reported to An Garda Síochána from 1 January 2019 up to end 2022. I am informed the insurance company is the injured party in all of these incidents.

Year	2019	2020	2021	2022
Fraudulent Claims	74	61	51	59

It is worth noting, incident counts are based on the date of reporting to An Garda Síochána and were collated based on PULSE data as of 15 June 2023.