Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On the question of civilianisation, will the Minister give an update, with an exact figure, on how many gardaí have been redeployed to the front line on the basis of mitigating the need for overtime? What is the new recruitment in terms of the civilianisation or redeployment within the public service to meet the change, as referred to by the Minister?

I now turn to the capital budget in which there has been an increase of 58%. Will the Minister give an update on the cost for reopening of Stepaside Garda station, in the context of that capital budget? Perhaps he will also give a break down of other rural stations.

On investment, gardaí were positive about mobile phone technology being used for live data updates. I believe this was piloted in Limerick. Is there a commitment to roll this out in this capital budget? That is an important reform in PULSE.

The witness security programme budget is up 505%, which is significant. Does this increase relate to the current gangland situation? It appears to be a very significant year-on-year rise. Will the Minister please provide context for that figure? Obviously, this has been ongoing for a number of years.

Is there a commitment to expand the Garda armed support unit? There have been significant gangland difficulties in my area, which in many cases is connected to Ireland being seen as part of the cell structure for the European transit of drugs. How are the Department of Justice and Equality and An Garda Síochána positively addressing this? We have had some successes but unfortunately they have been a drop in the ocean. People will be killed in the crossfire if we do not see a greater deployment of national units. We need to do this without robbing Peter to pay Paul, that is, without taking units from the inner city in order to have units in west Dublin. There needs to be a greater focus on the armed support units and investment in them. People are shooting others in broad daylight, and they have the audacity to do this. We need to ensure there is law and order in that regard. I ask that there is focus on the armed support unit. Will the Minister provide an update on that?

Perhaps my next query does not relate to the An Garda Síochána or the Garda Vote. Funding for the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, appears to have been reduced year-on-year. When we move on to that Estimate, I will ask about this.