Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is informed by the Garda authorities that Operation Fiacla is running for 12 months initially, with effect from February 2012. The operation is the subject of regular monitoring and review by senior Garda management and is focused on identifying and targeting gangs involved in burglaries around the country so as to disrupt their activities and bring them before the courts.

Operation Fiacla is intelligence driven and specific burglary initiatives have been implemented in each Garda region to target suspect offenders. These initiatives optimise the use of existing structures and local Garda management ensure that all personnel are fully briefed on the initiative, with divisional crime management teams playing a key co-ordination and implementation role. The Minister is further informed that more than 1,700 persons have been arrested and that almost 1,000 persons have been charged to date as part of the operation, reflecting the substantial efforts being made to tackle this problem by the Garda.

In regard to the cost of the operation, it is understood that a separate dedicated budget has not been established for this initiative and it would necessitate a disproportionate amount of Garda time and resources to calculate this. However, every effort is being made by Garda management, under the remit of the respective regional policing plans prepared under Operation Fiacla, for duty associated with these initiatives to be conducted as part of routine, rostered, policing activities.

The Minister is conscious of the deep distress burglary can cause to householders and to the broader impact it can have in terms of fear of crime in our communities and, therefore, he very much welcomes the fact that the Garda Commissioner is deploying the substantial resources available to him in a targeted approach to confront those engaged in this form of criminality. The Minister expects that the successes of Operation Fiacla will be reflected in future crime statistics published by the Central Statistics Office in regard to burglaries.

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