Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. As I said, these are matters for the Garda Commissioner as they are operational matters. To update the Deputy, as of 31 May 2021 there were 337 gardaí assigned to the Kilkenny-Carlow division. This represents an increase of almost 19% since December 2015 when there were 284 Garda staff members assigned to the division. A detailed breakdown of the Garda workforce is available on the Department's website. As the Deputy will know, An Garda Síochána has been allocated an unprecedented budget of €1.952 billion for 2021. This level of funding is enabling sustained, ongoing Garda recruitment. As a result, the number of Garda members is now approximately 14,500 and there are over 3,000 Garda staff nationwide. Taken together, this increase in the number of Garda members and staff is delivering a significant growth in operational policing hours nationwide.

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