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

5 o’clock

As the Deputy will be aware all gardaí have a responsibility in the prevention and detection of criminal activity whether it be in the area of drug offences or otherwise. I can assure the Deputy that An Garda Síochána continues to pro-actively and resolutely tackle all forms of drug crime in this jurisdiction.

In 2015 the Garda Commissioner, who is responsible for the allocation of Garda resources, established a new national drugs and organised crime bureau. The bureau has been working with divisional drug units in tackling supply reduction at local level. This work is further supported by other national units including, as the Deputy will know, the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, in targeting persons involved in the illicit sale and supply of drugs. We made some changes to legislation recently in this regard. It is about using all of the Garda resources to deal with the drugs issue. It is not just about those who are working within the drugs units, it is about working overall with the other units.

The fact that we now have recruitment is significant. I cannot say it often enough. We need recruitment in order to have new people working in these specialist units. That is under way and its impact will be to augment those units in the period ahead.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Furthermore, the drugs and organised crime bureau has continued to make significant seizures of controlled drugs as evidenced by a number of significant seizures made in January this year including a huge seizure of herbal cannabis - estimated at that time to have a street value of over €30 million - made as a result of a targeted joint operation involving An Garda Síochána and Revenue's Customs and Excise service.

Multidisciplinary approaches are also utilised to ensure that those involved in illicit activity are effectively targeted including through the use of the proceeds of crime legislation, money-laundering legislation and the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau.

I am informed that this approach adopts good practice in implementing a co-ordinated use of Garda resources and in utilising available criminal law to its fullest extent in tackling all forms of organised crime, including drug trafficking.

This Government is committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country in order to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and to deter crime. To make this a reality for all, the Government has in place a plan to achieve an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021 comprising 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Garda Reserve members and 4,000 civilians. This year, funding has been provided for the recruitment of 800 Garda recruits and up to 500 civilians to support the wide-ranging reform plan in train in An Garda Síochána. Funding has also been provided for the recruitment of 300 members of the Garda Reserve.

This focus on investment in personnel is critical. The moratorium on recruitment introduced in 2010 resulted in a significant reduction in the strength of An Garda Síochána. We are now rebuilding the organisation and providing the Commissioner with the resources she needs to allow her to deploy increasing numbers of gardaí across the organisation including the divisional drugs units.

The investment in personnel is complemented by substantial investment in resources across the board for An Garda Síochána. The Deputy will be aware of the significant resources that have been made available to An Garda Síochána under the Government's capital plan 2016-2021. In particular, approximately €205 million in additional funding for Garda ICT and €46 million for new Garda vehicles has been allocated over the lifetime of the plan. This investment will facilitate the provision of more effective policing services and support An Garda Síochána in tackling illicit drug activity.

For ease of reference I have provided below a breakdown of the detailed information requested in respect of the drug squad numbers in each Garda division for each of the past five years and to 28 February 2017, the latest date for which figures are readily available.

Drugs Unit Personnel 2012-2017

Division Drugs Unit Personnel 2012 - 2017	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
D.M.R.S.C.	13	11	19	19	13	10
D.M.R.N.C	20	13	20	20	30	18
D.M.R.N.	31	27	16	25	21	21
D.M.R.E.	13	13	10	10	9	8
D.M.R.S.	30	23	17	16	7	18
D.M.R.W.	28	26	24	26	20	20
Waterford	10	9	5	5	5	5
Wexford	6	4	1	6	6	6
Kilkenny-Carlow	7	7	5	7	4	4
Tipperary	8	7	7	8	9	8
Cork City	26	29	28	15	20	15
Cork North	9	9	5	5	5	5
Cork West	5	4	3	4	3	7
Kerry	6	8	10	9	7	7
Limerick	12	11	12	14	12	10
Donegal	10	10	8	7	4	4
Cavan-Monaghan	5	0	0	0	0	0
Sligo-Leitrim	8	6	8	7	7	7
Louth	7	6	6	6	6	6
Clare	7	6	7	5	5	5
Mayo	5	5	5	5	5	5
Galway	11	12	8	12	9	8
Roscommon-Longford	6	7	6	6	6	6
Westmeath	7	7	6	5	6	4
Meath	6	4	4	5	8	8
Kildare	2	2	6	7	8	8
Laois-Offaly	3	0	3	0	0	0
Wicklow	3	4	4	4	11	10
Total	310	270	253	258	256	233

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