Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Casey for his good wishes. As he will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of personnel among the Garda regions, divisions, and districts. Garda management keeps this distribution under continuing review, taking into account crime trends and policing priorities. It is very important that we do that. The inspectorate report has spoken about the need to continually monitor and review how gardaí are allocated to different areas depending on crime trends. Crime trends vary considerably around the country and we cannot just make those decisions based on precedent or history.

I have been informed by the Garda Commissioner, in summary, that there were 19 stations on 30 April 2011, with 350 members assigned to the Wicklow division. On 30 April 2016 there were 17 stations in the Wicklow division, with311gardaí assigned to the division.As the Deputy will understand, a significant amount of information on the area is available, down to station and sub-district level, which he has requested. For ease of reference I have provided him with a breakdown of the detailed information. That is available to him for the record. I will not go into all of that detail here.

I and the Government are committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence. I have shown that through my actions as Minister for Justice and Equality in reopening Templemore training college and giving a commitment to accelerate the increase in Garda numbers to 15,000. Deputy Casey's party also supported this commitment and was very keen to see it in the programme for Government. I am hoping that for the September intake we will be in a position, depending on my discussions with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to accelerate the intake into Templemore and to see more gardaí coming through so that we can repair the damage that was done during the period of recession, when Garda numbers were reduced, Templemore was closed and investment stopped. All of that has changed thanks to the better economic situation, and we are now investing very heavily in An Garda Síochána once again, as evidenced by recent actions.

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