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

Deputy Broughan has posed a number of interesting questions, as has Deputy Lahart. Since becoming Minister for Justice and Equality, the issue of statistics has been at the core of my concern about the ICT requirements in An Garda Síochána, not just nationally but internationally. I have had many meetings on this. I have tried to ensure data can be exchanged not just nationally but internationally. This is why I relentlessly pursued the investment of more than €200 million for An Garda Síochána because, of course, I was concerned. I was concerned enough to arrange a meeting with the Central Statistics Office, CSO, when questions were raised about the quality of statistics. The CSO publishes crime statistics and has taken a series of steps to ensure they are ever more reliable because we must arrive at a point where they can be relied upon. That work has been under way and the CSO has noted progress in this regard, but there is more work to be done.

Regarding the question of whether the Garda traffic corps should be autonomous, I would like to speak in response to Deputy Lahart about other actions that are being undertaken in respect of traffic. This is the kind of issue that could be considered by the review the Government wants to see. They would need to remain within An Garda Síochána but the question arises as to whether the structures are best suited to modern policing requirements. Deputy Broughan's question is very interesting and is one that a review could look at among other issues because the Deputy is really raising the issue of management, how various tasks are done and what form of management provides the best results.

In response to Deputy Lahart's question, the assistant commissioner with responsibility for roads policing is assessing the capacity of divisions and districts to identify and target areas where An Garda Síochána could accelerate the deployment of personnel to traffic in 2017.

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