Mr. Dónall Ó Cualáin:

Given the time provided, I will deal with each matter by giving a brief overview and my colleagues and I are then happy to go into more detail where possible. On the commitment in the programme for Government for the reopening of six Garda stations on a pilot basis, the Commissioner was asked by the Department of Justice and Equality to identify six stations with specific criteria to include a mix of urban and rural with a minimum of one in Dublin and a good geographical spread. Furthermore, the Department advised the stations to be considered for reopening must be in State ownership. In total, 139 stations were closed. Of these, 78 stations could potentially be reopened. Based on the criteria provided, a scoping exercise was conducted by an assistant commissioner with views taken from each regional assistant commissioner following consultation with local stakeholders. Census data was also examined, as was data on crime trends from the Garda Síochána analysis service.

Assistant Garda Commissioner John O'Driscoll provided an interim report in June with a recommendation that Stepaside Garda station be reopened. Assistant Commissioner O'Driscoll was awaiting final recommendations from all regions as well as recent census and crime data before completing his report. His final report and its recommendations have been approved by me as acting Commissioner and the report was forwarded to the Department of Justice and Equality earlier this week. The six stations recommended to be reopened are, in alphabetical order, Ballinspittle, Bawnboy, Donard, Leighlinbridge, Rush and Stepaside. Those include a station closer to the Border, two in Dublin at either end of the county, one of them large and the other smaller, another in the most southerly part of west Cork, along with a spread across five of the six Garda regions, which reflects consideration given to the criteria provided to us. Following this, An Garda Síochána will liaise with the Office of Public Works to determine what remedial works need to be done at each station and the length of time and the associated costs of the works. Furthermore, an examination of the resources required will be undertaken which will examine the numbers of staff, equipment, vehicles and ICT infrastructure required to determine in what order these stations are opened and when they are opened.

I will move on to the interim audit report and financial procedures in the Garda Síochána College of February 2017. The organisation is committed to implementing all 19 recommendations in full. Recommendation 1 cannot be completed until all 18 other recommendations have been completed. Recommendation 19 can only be completed when the head of internal audit has conducted his audit of the implementation of the recommendations which he has indicated will be completed by the end of December. The Policing Authority is overseeing our implementation of the recommendations contained in the interim report. The Policing Authority has deemed that 11 of the 19 recommendations have been completed. Of the remaining six recommendations, three are on target for completion by the end of December and significant progress will be demonstrated on the remaining three which relate to procurement of food for the Garda Síochána College and the transfer of lands to State control. This clearly demonstrates the organisation's continued commitment to ensuring that there are effective financial management and control systems in place to manage finances and all administrative functions in the Garda Síochána College.

As Accounting Officer for An Garda Síochána, I can say it takes seriously its responsibility for ensuring public moneys are spent efficiently and effectively in the best interests of the community and State.