Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There has been unprecedented investment in the Garda fleet since the economy began to turnaround. There is a slight decrease in investment this year but this is due to the fact that we brought forward some of the investment to the end of 2016. The actual expenditure on new and replacement vehicles over the period 2013 to 2016 was in the region of €40 million. Expenditure in this area in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 was €10 million, €10.8 million, €8.9 million and €10 million. Average expenditure in this area between 2013 and 2016 was €10 million per annum as compared to an average of €1.6 million between 2009 and 2011. A huge amount of new stock was needed because of a lack of investment. Up to this point, we have been replacing old stock with new stock.

The capital plan from 2016 to 2021 provides for an investment of €46 million. That is based on the numbers of new staff that need to be brought in. We will have an increase in the numbers of gardaí, civilians and reserves. The fleet needs have to be taken into account by reference to that as well. Based on the expected replacement rate and the increasing demands, we have worked out a figure of €46 million for the period from 2016 to 2021. It does vary from year to year, of course, depending on the age of vehicles.

The Deputy is quite right in saying that we should get to a point at which we are replacing a vehicle when it reaches a particular age or mileage. Then we will not have the huge backlog of very old fleet. It has made things very difficult and, in some instances, there was not even fleet available, which was really serious. The very least we have to do is invest in a suitable fleet if we expect to have effective and efficient policing. That is the amount we expect to spend over the next five years. I can give the Deputy some further statistics. Having had this investment, 64% of the fleet is now less than four years old and one in five vehicles is less than one year old. When this Government came into office, in the region of 89% of the fleet was older than four years and only one vehicle in 50 was less than one year old. I can sent a more detailed breakdown to the committee. The impact of the investment is clear. The projected investment will mean a younger fleet and better availability for police. Investment in the fleet had effectively stopped, which was obvious to everyone. It had a huge impact on morale as gardaí did not have appropriate vehicles to do their work.