John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the action being taken to address the 27% fall in the number of personnel in the Garda traffic corps in Dublin since 2011. [15755/17]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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My question relates to the action being taken to address the 27% fall in the number of personnel in the Garda traffic corps in Dublin over the past six or seven years. In her previous answer, the Tánaiste referred to the increase in road deaths, including the increase in the deaths of cyclists, the lack of roadside checks and the ongoing lack of speed checks as a result of the reduction of numbers in the Garda traffic corps. Will she comment on that?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Garda Commissioner, who is responsible for the allocation of Garda resources, has indicated in her policing plan for 2017 a commitment to increase the number of personnel dedicated to traffic duties by 10% to reflect the increasing numbers of personnel across the entire organisation. This should also lead to better outcomes regarding road traffic enforcement.

The modernisation and renewal programme, which is being overseen by the Policing Authority, contains key strategic objectives for road policing which will inform and guide An Garda Síochána's road policing plans over the next five years. The overall point I would make is that it is critical that we continue recruitment because it is through continuing recruitment involving more people being recruited rather than retiring that An Garda Síochána will be in a position to allocate more gardaí for community policing and road traffic policing and across the system. This is what we need to see. People will welcome that because we need visible, efficient and responsive policing throughout the country to strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and prevent crime. The Deputy knows that the workforce plan to bring the numbers to 21,000 personnel by 2021 comprising 15,000 Garda members and 2,000 reserve members is in place. The Deputy will have seen the recruitment advertisements that appeared last week. Many Members of this House will welcome that new recruitment. In 2017, 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 Reserve personnel. It will take some time given that there was no recruitment for five years because of the economic situation. Thankfully, that is being reversed and we can invest again. This will help in this area. This is combined with all the issues we were talking about this week that need change and more rigorous enforcement.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

It will take some time before there are fully trained officers available to replace adequately personnel who have retired across the entire organisation, including the traffic corps. However, the Commissioner has confirmed that the personnel requirement of the Garda traffic corps is being assessed to identify the most vulnerable areas in regard to serious traffic collisions and the level of compliance with road traffic legislation. I understand that the assistant commissioner with responsibility for roads policing is currently assessing the capacity of divisions and districts to identify and target areas where An Garda Síochána could accelerate the deployment of personnel to traffic in 2017. The filling of any vacancies identified will be conducted on a structured basis and will be further enhanced with the recently renewed recruitment campaigns to An Garda Síochána. The Deputy will also be aware that the Garda Commissioner has in recent days announced the restructuring of traffic policing with the creation of a new roads policing unit to be led by Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn.

Ireland has over a number of years developed a multi-agency approach to road safety through the involvement of a number of agencies working in partnership under the aegis of the road safety strategy. Under this year's policing plan, new measures will be explored with partner agencies relating to driver compliance and the promotion of a safe and crime-free road network. The plan also points to the enhancement of the use of technology to continue to deprive criminals of the use of the road network and develop policing capabilities. Among the road traffic initiatives identified in the plan are the strengthening and redevelopment of the traffic corps to tackle all forms of criminality on our road network, ongoing planning, risk assessment and operational preparation for major emergencies in conjunction with emergency management partners.

Road traffic legislation is, of course, also enforced as part of the day-to-day duties of members of An Garda Síochána. Both targeted and general methods of enforcement have a valuable role to play in An Garda Síochána's enforcement programme which targets locations with a view to preventing the commission of offences, detecting errant motorists, changing their behaviour and, ultimately, reducing death and injuries on our roads.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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This is good news. The Tánaiste has made the connection herself because she mentioned the increase in road deaths. I have raised the issue of the deaths of cyclists, so an increase in resources can only be good news. The Tánaiste spoke about the statistics the Commissioner has given her. What is the Tánaiste's attitude to the Commissioner, who is essentially the head of an organisation that may given the Tánaiste incorrect statistical information - I am not suggesting it was done wilfully - during her tenure as Minister for Justice and Equality that she then put on the Dáil record? The Commissioner has said that many other things may emerge. Logically, one of those things is that the Tánaiste may have been given incorrect statistics in respect of parliamentary questions, which means that she may have inadvertently misled this House. How does she propose to investigate that? Does the Tánaiste intend to ask the Commissioner about that and whether the Commissioner can confirm to the Tánaiste's satisfaction that the information she has given to this House in her time as Minister in response to legitimate and justifiable parliamentary questions has been accurate?

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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We were told by the Minister for Education and Skills this morning that there will be a very fundamental look at An Garda Síochána, for example, removing the security function from day-to-day policing. Has the Tánaiste given any thought to the possibility that the traffic corps could become an autonomous organisation with An Garda Síochána with its own commander and its own complement of staff? I remember asking the assistant commissioner with responsibility for traffic about this matter. He told me that the traffic corps is there but when its members are needed, they are on general Garda duties. Is it time for a dedicated traffic corps? When Fianna Fáil began the austerity programme, there were 1,250 gardaí who were just responsible for traffic.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Broughan has posed a number of interesting questions, as has Deputy Lahart. Since becoming Minister for Justice and Equality, the issue of statistics has been at the core of my concern about the ICT requirements in An Garda Síochána, not just nationally but internationally. I have had many meetings on this. I have tried to ensure data can be exchanged not just nationally but internationally. This is why I relentlessly pursued the investment of more than €200 million for An Garda Síochána because, of course, I was concerned. I was concerned enough to arrange a meeting with the Central Statistics Office, CSO, when questions were raised about the quality of statistics. The CSO publishes crime statistics and has taken a series of steps to ensure they are ever more reliable because we must arrive at a point where they can be relied upon. That work has been under way and the CSO has noted progress in this regard, but there is more work to be done.

Regarding the question of whether the Garda traffic corps should be autonomous, I would like to speak in response to Deputy Lahart about other actions that are being undertaken in respect of traffic. This is the kind of issue that could be considered by the review the Government wants to see. They would need to remain within An Garda Síochána but the question arises as to whether the structures are best suited to modern policing requirements. Deputy Broughan's question is very interesting and is one that a review could look at among other issues because the Deputy is really raising the issue of management, how various tasks are done and what form of management provides the best results.

In response to Deputy Lahart's question, the assistant commissioner with responsibility for roads policing is assessing the capacity of divisions and districts to identify and target areas where An Garda Síochána could accelerate the deployment of personnel to traffic in 2017.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Can I come back?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy can but, normally, there are only two supplementaries.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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That is very good of the Ceann Comhairle. My question concerns the contamination effect of the past week in terms of the efficacy of the information provided by the Tánaiste as Minister for Justice and Equality to the Dáil in response to parliamentary questions. As a parliamentarian, I wonder whether we can trust the statistics that are coming forward and what the Tánaiste's view on that is. If it starts with breath testing and fixed-charge notice fines, and the Garda Commissioner has suggested that other things may emerge, it behoves the Tánaiste as Minister for Justice and Equality to go to the Commissioner and ask her whether she can trust the accuracy and efficacy of the information the Commissioner gives her in respect of parliamentary questions because this is a pretty sacred place in terms of public knowledge and it is a place to which the public looks to get proper knowledge and accurate information about the running of the country and the operation of An Garda Síochána.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I have said that my goal from the very beginning has been to give An Garda Síochána the resources it needs to arrive at a point where it has the IT instruments that will ensure the most reliable statistics we can possibly get. As we have seen this week, it is also about what is inputted into that database.

I hope that very serious lessons have been learnt in the discussions, and this week, from what has arisen around the very serious issues of data and the input of data. A combination of a range of factors will determine the true accuracy at the end of the day. I can work on the material that is made available to me but I have also made sure, for example with regard to the issues raised by the Garda Inspectorate on crime statistics, a whole piece of work has been done on those. Because of the extra investment in PULSE it is now not just a question of recording crime but also putting up the information about the investigation. The Garda Inspectorate has said that this will be very important also. The more information that is put up the more reliable will be the feedback that is given to me as the Minister for Justice and Equality, to all the bodies that care about An Garda Síochána, to the Dáil committees and to the Committee on Justice and Equality.