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

As I have said to other Deputies, for ease of reference I have provided a breakdown of the detailed information requested on the number of Garda stations and the number of gardaí assigned to the DMR south division and the DMR south central division on 31 October 2010 and 30 September 2016, the latest date for which figures are readily available. There is quite a lot of detail in that and I will be forwarding that to the Deputy today. When the extra gardaí are recruited it is an operational matter as to where they will serve. That operational decision is made by the Garda Commissioner and as I said in reply to an earlier question from Deputy Murphy and Deputy Lahart's other colleagues, we want to see gardaí being assigned to the areas that need them most and that has to be assessed looking at population trends, crime levels and so on.

We are committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and deter crime. As I said, there were decreases in many crime categories, and that was also reflected in the victimisation study that was done. It is important to look at both sets of data. There was a 26% reduction nationwide in burglaries but a huge effort was made and a dedicated operation put in place, which involved high visibility and extra Garda presence, and money was allocated in order to make sure this was successful.

We are attempting to put in place a plan to achieve an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021. That is 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Reserve members and 4,000 civilians. That recruitment will begin next year after the survey has been done and the work has been done by An Garda Síochána. In terms of next year, I assure the Deputy that funding has been provided for the recruitment of 800 Garda recruits and civilians to support that plan.

See this speech in context