Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To reassure the Deputy and colleagues again, an investment of more than €2 billion, an increase of a third in less than six years, shows the commitment that is there to An Garda Síochána. It represents more than 60% of my justice Vote in total, so, obviously, there is a huge amount of investment overall going into An Garda Síochána, in personnel, equipment, cars, bicycles and the types of IT they need. There will be significant investment made in IT over the years to come in order to make sure that the Garda is as modern as possible and is able, like the rest of us, to use the types of equipment and technology to do their work in a much quicker, a more efficient and a more effective way. Much of this is about gardaí on the ground and on the beat. I sincerely hope that in the year ahead we will be able to reach our target of 15,000, particularly with the 800 new recruits, a resource which has been opened up only in the past week.

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