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

I agree with the Deputy and all members of An Garda Síochána who say they do work others could be doing and could free up valuable police time and make sure we have as many visible gardaí out on the beat as possible. We are committed to doing that. Strengthening An Garda Síochána is at the core of everything we are focused on at the moment. When it comes to this budget, we will continue to provide them with the resources they need. As I said earlier, there is a €2.31 billion budget for An Garda Síochána, up 23% since 2020. We have also allowed for a 66% increase in the training allowance, which will rise to €305 this week. This is progress on recruitment, coupled with an increase in civilianisation. About 900 Garda members have been freed up for front-line policing duties since 2015. With the allocations in this year's budget, I expect that number to increase again. I assure the Deputy, in terms of core duties, that completing the implementation of the report of the Commission for the Future of Policing in Ireland is a priority for me. Recommendation No. 20 of the commission's report relates to the release of Garda members from non-core duties. Work is ongoing in my Department to progress this recommendation. There are a number of different areas on which we are focused. In particular, the report recommended that all immigration duties carried out by An Gardaí Síochána be transferred to civilian responsibility. We have seen how well that has worked in Dublin Airport with the border management unit now effectively taking on that role but working very closely with members of An Garda Síochána, who are still based in the airport. We have engaged with An Garda Síochána on the overall scope of immigration operations to transfer to the Department and work is currently underway to develop a roadmap to see how that would progress. There is Cork immigration, Shannon Airport and a number of other areas in that regard in which progress can be made. This will involve the transfer of work relating to the nationwide registration of residence permission and the renewal of such permissions from An Garda Síochána to the immigration function of my Department. A number of additional activities currently undertaken by gardaí at Dublin Airport have been identified to be transferred to civilian resources and consideration will be given to how immigration functions are undertaken at the other ports and airports I mentioned. I will come back to the Deputy with some of the other issues.

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