James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Again, on behalf of the Minister I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is by law responsible for the management and control of An Garda Síochána and for the effective and efficient use of Garda resources to combat crime and to keep our communities safe. The Deputy will appreciate the Minister for Justice is unable as a matter of law to intervene in these independent operational matters.

On the designation of gardaí as community gardaí, we are lucky to have a community-based police force in this country but the designation of gardaí as community gardaí is a matter for the chief superintendent. I cannot comment on anything the chief superintendent may have said on the distribution of gardaí between himself and the Garda Commissioner, but what I can say is this Government is committed to ensuring there is strong visible policing in our local communities. Budget 2022 reflects this commitment with an unprecedented allocation of more than €2 billion in Garda funding in the coming year. This funding will include a provision for recruitment of an additional 800 gardaí and an additional 400 Garda staff. That will be part of the process of gardaí being freed-up from administration to carry out operational roles. That has been ongoing and more than 800 gardaí have already been released from administrative roles back into operational ones. This increase in the number of members of An Garda Síochána and staff will deliver significant growth in operational policing hours nationwide and improve services to the public generally.

I am informed that 323 gardaí were assigned to the Galway district as of September this year, which is an increase of almost 24% since December 2015 when 261 Garda members were assigned to the stations in the district. I am further informed that there are seven Garda stations in the district compared to five in 2015. I understand that 23 community gardaí are assigned to the Galway district compared to 14 in December 2015, which is an increase of 64%.

Finally, I welcome the budget 2022 allocation of €2 million to the community safety innovation fund and €6.7 million in support of the youth justice strategy. This funding will support local communities in addressing those local needs as well.

See this speech in context