Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In regard to Garda staff, the objective of making sure we have an increase in our overall numbers is to ensure as far as possible that front-line gardaí are not behind the desk doing paperwork or work that Garda staff could do. There will always be a level of work that gardaí need to do, inputting data and information, but certainly the objective is that the more Garda staff we have, the more front-line gardaí can be reassigned to operational roles. Under the Garda reassignment initiatives since 2015, almost 900 Garda members have been reassigned to the operational roles and their previous roles assigned to Garda staff, inclusive of 17 in 2023. It is absolutely the case. It will not take away all administration work or particular work that gardaí need to do in the station but it certainly does free up members. The objective this year is that we would hire 250 additional staff. That in itself will certainly free up a number of gardaí for front-line duty.

In regard to the capital building, there are two separate budgets. The OPW has a budget of €60 million and An Garda Síochána has a €5 million maintenance budget to deal with smaller maintenance or upkeep of buildings. As I said, there are 700 buildings under the Garda heading, so there is a lot to maintain. Many of them would be older buildings, so the €5 million is specific to that. However, the delivery of new buildings is very much the area of the OPW, working closely with An Garda Síochána and my Department.