Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That €5 million, as I have said earlier, was fully spent in the acquisition of vehicles. Those vehicles are in the course of currently being fitted out and distributed to the various districts. On top of that, there is a further €4 million.

I would have previously mentioned that there has been very substantial investment in the Garda fleet. In effect there has been €18 million, which is an unprecedented sum in a short period of time, spent on the Garda fleet in the period 2012 to the end of 2014. That means that 651 vehicles have been purchased in the 2012-13 period. There will be additional purchases to be made this year out of the €4 million. To give the Deputy an insight regarding the corresponding figure for the previous three years, the 2009-11 period. Compared with the €18 million that has been spent in this three year period, there was less than €5 million spent and only 217 vehicles purchased. The problem with the decrease in the number of vehicles derived from the very small numbers that were required during what was a period of financial difficulty. I am not blaming a previous government but it was during a period of major financial difficulty. When we came in we saw that there was these difficulties. It was not something that I could start addressing until 2012. I inherited my predecessor's 2011 budget. There would be very substantial numbers of cars acquired. They are currently, as I know, being allocated based on operational need and during the course of this year there will be further vehicles required.