Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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34. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí in each Garda station in County Wicklow as of 30 June 2017; and the number of new recruits assigned to the division since recruitment resumed in 2014. [32876/17]

Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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This is to ask the Minister the number of gardaí in each Garda station in County Wicklow as at 30 June 2017, and the number of new recruits assigned to the division since recruitment resumed in 2014.

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Casey for raising the question. I have, in tabular form, the Wicklow division total, which is 296. The table is included with this reply. If I were to read the entire table into the record, my time would be exhausted. Suffice to say that the districts of Baltinglass, Bray and Wicklow had a total of 296 gardaí as of 31 May 2017.

Last Thursday, we had a passing out parade when a class of 198 trainees attested as members of An Garda Síochána. It is the largest class to attest since the Garda College reopened in 2014. This brings the number of new recruits who have attested since the college reopened to almost 1,200, with another 400 scheduled to attest later this year. This will bring Garda numbers to 13,500 by year-end once projected retirements are taken into account, which is a net increase of 500 over last year. This is progress on reaching our target of 15,000 members by 2021.

This focus on investment in personnel is critical. The moratorium on recruitment introduced in 2010 resulted in a significant reduction in the strength of An Garda Síochána. We are now rebuilding the organisation and providing the Commissioner with the resources she needs to allow her to deploy increasing numbers of gardaí across every Garda division, including County Wicklow in the coming months and years.

This investment in personnel is complemented by substantial investment in resources across the board for An Garda Síochána. The Deputy will be aware of the significant resource increase that has been made available to An Garda Síochána under the Government's capital plan 2016 to 2021. In particular, some €205 million in additional funding for Garda ICT and €46 million for new Garda vehicles, some of which I am sure are in evidence in County Wicklow, has been allocated over the lifetime of the plan.

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This investment will facilitate the provision of more effective policing services and I have no doubt that these new resources now coming on stream will see an increase in Garda visibility in our communities.

As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of resources, including personnel, among the various Garda divisions and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter. Garda management keeps this distribution of resources under continual review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities so as to ensure that the optimum use is made of these resources. I am informed by the Commissioner that 18newly attested gardaí have been assigned to the Wicklow division since the college reopened.

For the Deputy's information, I have set out in tabular form the number of gardaí assigned to the Wicklow division, by station, as of 31 May 2017, the most recent date for which figures are readily available and as provided by the Commissioner.

Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his answer and welcome the progress on the numbers. Today, however, I am specifically focusing on Wicklow. County Wicklow requires a greater Garda deployment. We have only had nine new recruits since 2014. That is out of a total allocation of 1,000. Two of them have since resigned and 32 gardaí have left the division in the past 18 months. That is a net reduction in Wicklow of 22. Another 28 gardaí could retire tomorrow morning if they so wish. Wicklow has also had the loss of two Garda stations, namely, those in Donard and Wicklow town. They need to be restored. They cover large rural areas where communities feel very vulnerable to local crime and crimes coming down on the main arteries from Dublin into the rural areas. We are aware that Donard is being considered in the review and that one station has been reopened on foot of that review.

Perhaps the Minister could give me an update on that. The farming and business communities in County Wicklow are expressing no confidence in the current capacity of the Garda to prevent crime in the county. This can be attributed to the lack of Garda numbers there.

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I ask the Deputy to appreciate that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of resources, including personnel, among the various Garda divisions. While I do not have a direct role in the matter, I am anxious to ensure the investment of the public money the Government makes available for the Garda leads to the provision of more effective policing services throughout the State. I have no doubt that the new resources and the fresh investment now coming on stream will lead to an increase in the visibility of gardaí across our communities, including those in County Wicklow. I have been informed by the Garda Commissioner that 18 newly attested gardaí have been assigned to the Wicklow division since the reopening of the Garda College. I have placed on the record a table showing that 296 gardaí are assigned to the Wicklow division. We are ensuring the Garda organisation is structured in a way that allows the Garda Commissioner to deploy increasing numbers of gardaí in every division, including the Wicklow division.

Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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It seems from the Minister's response that an additional nine recruits are to be deployed in County Wicklow. I was not aware of that but I welcome it nonetheless. I will give an example of rural crime in County Wicklow, which depends significantly on tourism. Two weeks ago, eight cars were broken into at the Shay Elliott car park in Glenmalure. Such incidents cast a bad reflection on County Wicklow as a tourism destination and cause additional worry. People in the county have been working on this issue for a number of years. When I was a member of the Wicklow joint policing committee, we came up with a number of initiatives, including the tourism ambassador programme. We rolled out tourism ambassadors in sensitive rural locations throughout the county. We are losing that now because of the reduced number of people going into the Tús programme. Additional signage has been installed in sensitive tourism locations to warn visitors not to leave property in their cars. More resources are needed because gardaí just cannot get to remote rural locations at present.

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I mentioned earlier that personnel matters in the Wicklow division continue to be under review. We are investing to facilitate increased Garda numbers. It is important to acknowledge that measures have been put in place to combat crime, particularly in rural counties like Wicklow. Operation Thor entails a broad range of activities to tackle organised crime gangs and other offenders. It involves working positively with communities with a view to preventing crime. Additional investment makes it possible to extend the range of intensive policing operations, including the continued targeting under Operation Thor of those involved in burglaries and crimes against property. The concentrated policing activity under Operation Thor is reflected in the implementation of over 74,300 targeted checkpoints nationwide, many of which have been in County Wicklow, and in the making of approximately 4,400 arrests. We will continue to monitor the situation. I will be happy to engage further with the Deputy on it.