Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that the Government is 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. To make that 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 Garda Reserves. Last Thursday a class of 198 Garda trainees attested as members of An Garda Síochána - the largest class to attest since the Garda College reopened in September 2014. That brings the number of new recruits who have attested since the college reopened to almost 1,200, with another 400 scheduled to attest later this year. That will bring Garda numbers to 13,500 by the end of this year. Once projected retirements are taken into account, that is an increase of 500 over last year. That is real progress on reaching our target of 15,000 members by 2021. This focus on investment in personnel is critical. The investment in personnel is complemented by substantial investment in resources across the board for An Garda Síochána. Deputy Brendan Smith 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, some €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 I have no doubt that the new resources now coming on stream will see an increase in Garda visibility in Cavan and Monaghan and across other communities.

As the Deputy will appreciate, it is the Garda Commissioner who is responsible for the distribution of resources. She is mindful of the point raised by the Deputy. Garda management keeps the distribution of resources under continual review. I am informed by the Commissioner that 26newly-attested gardaí have been assigned to the Cavan-Monaghan division since the college reopened.

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