Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Blaney for raising the matter of the tragic events of the past few days in Northern Ireland. I add my voice to that of the Taoiseach and the other Members of the House who spoke in support of today's all-party motion condemning these killings and expressing deep sympathy for the families of the victims.

The Garda Síochána is in very close contact with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and co-operation, both in terms of pursuing those responsible and seeking to prevent any further incidents, remains at the highest level. The Chief Constable has publicly recognised the excellent co-operation between the two forces. The Garda Commissioner and Chief Constable will meet on Thursday to discuss the latest developments in these cases and our continuing response to them. The Minister and Garda Commissioner have been very conscious of the threat posed by dissidents and that is why, despite the political progress in the North, the Garda has continued to deploy extensive resources targeting dissident activities. It should be noted by the House that despite the political progress in recent years we have retained the full legislative armoury for dealing with terrorist groups.

The harsh reality is that it does not take a large group of people, or significant resources, to engage in this type of activity. Nor, in the short term at any rate, do they require any significant level of support in the community. The House can be assured that the Government remains determined that the peace process will not be jeopardised by the actions of a small minority. The Minister has been informed by the Garda Commissioner that on 31 January 2009, the latest date for which figures are readily available, the personnel strength of the Garda divisions in the border areas to which Deputy Blaney referred was as follows: Donegal, 485; Cavan-Monaghan, 416; Sligo-Leitrim, 323; and Louth, 295. These divisional strengths are augmented by the resources available to regional and national units, for example, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda National Drugs Unit, the Criminal Assets Bureau, etc., as and when required.

The Minister is also informed that local Garda management, through ongoing monitoring and analysis of crime trends, is aware of the other issues being raised by Deputy Blaney and the Garda Síochána has put the following measures in place to prevent, reduce and detect such incidents: additional patrols by uniformed and plain-clothes personnel; redeployment of resources, to assist in the identification of suspected offenders for these offences; the dissemination of crime prevention advice to the local community using local media, including radio and newspapers; and local senior Garda management meetings with representatives of the local communities to apprise them of ongoing efforts and initiatives targeting this type of criminality, including appealing to the community to report any information on suspicious activity occurring in the area to the Garda Síochána. Liaison has been established and is being maintained with the Police Service of Northern Ireland to establish similar crime trends in that jurisdiction, which may assist in identifying suspects for these incidents.

A divisional crime manager has also been appointed in each Garda division to assist in the monitoring and analysing of crime trends in conjunction with the divisional officer and divisional detective inspector to prepare specific initiatives and operations to target specific crime types. Given the geographical location, there are significant levels of ongoing cross-Border co-operation with the Police Service of Northern Ireland in identifying crime trends and possible suspected offenders for crimes in both jurisdictions. Border superintendents attend bi-monthly crime meetings at various locations, including Garda headquarters. At local level, cross-Border crime meetings are held on a monthly basis with regular, sometimes daily, interactions regarding individual incidents and other criminal activity.

In addition, the Garda Síochána Acts of 2005 and 2007 provided for police co-operation between the two police forces. The protocols signed between the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and the Chief Constable of the PSNl, allowed members of the Garda Síochána and members of the PSNl to take part in exchange programmes in each other's jurisdiction. The areas where exchanges take place have been expanded into the operational field, where the development of understanding and networks between the North and here could be most beneficial. To this end exchanges have been expanded to district community policing units, divisional drug units, divisional traffic units, divisional crime units and district detective units. This expansion commenced in the Border divisions, namely, Louth-Meath, Cavan-Monaghan, Sligo-Leitrim and Donegal.

The Minister wishes to assure Deputy Blaney that both he and the Garda authorities are committed to providing the resources necessary to tackle crime. The allocation of personnel by the Commissioner is determined by a number of factors including population, crime trends and as the policing needs of each division dictates. It is the responsibility of each Garda divisional officer to allocate personnel within his or her division. Notwithstanding this, the level of Garda personnel assigned throughout the country, and overall policing arrangements and operational strategy, are continually monitored and reviewed. Such monitoring ensures optimum use is made of Garda resources and the best possible Garda service is provided to the general public. I thank Deputy Blaney for raising the issue of Garda numbers.

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