John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to raise the issue of the strength of the Garda force in Rathcoole Garda station. I take it the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, will be responding. I do not mean to sound unkind, but I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, is not here. I have exhausted other avenues to try to get to the bottom of this issue, through parliamentary questions and so forth. I hope I will not just get the standard reply today telling me that Garda recruitment closed in 2010 and was subsequently reopened, that the Garda force is now at 13,500 or 14,000 and so on. That does not address the particular issue I am concerned about.

As the Minister of State knows well, Rathcoole is near the county boundary of Dublin on the N7. It was traditionally a country village and the Garda station served not just the village of Rathcoole but the hinterland also. For people in Clondalkin like myself, when we were growing up Rathcoole was a common enough place to visit. We would have known our way around it very well and we had friends in Rathcoole who came to school in Clondalkin. Rathcoole has changed significantly since then and its population has grown very dramatically. It continues to grow.

The Garda station in Rathcoole does not just service Rathcoole but also Saggart, Newcastle and Citywest. While they are big areas with a growing population, they also have attractions and features that bring a lot of people into the area. We have the hotel and conference centre in Citywest, the industrial estate at Greenogue, and the business park and industrial estate at Citywest itself. There is a lot of activity in the area in addition to the population.

Just a few years ago, the strength of the Garda force in Rathcoole was 23. Today, according to the reply to my most recent parliamentary question on the matter, the number is 14. It is out of line with everywhere else and there is no explanation. The Minister of State is going to give me the stock answer about recruitment and all that. I cannot understand why we have this decline when the population and economic activity in this hinterland is growing significantly. In 2014 there were 89 gardaí in Clondalkin and today there are 92. In Lucan there were 74 in 2014 and today there are 70. In Ronanstown there were 91 in 2014 and today there are 88. In Rathcoole, however, in 2014 there were 23 gardaí and today there are 14. That is a really significant drop.

This drop means that each Garda unit is a unit of two or three at most. Nobody has cover for holidays or sick leave. It is not physically possible to police the area adequately with that number of gardaí. This drop in numbers for Rathcoole is so obvious and the needs of the community and hinterland are not being addressed. Housing construction under way and in planning is very vibrant at the moment in Citywest, Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle. The Department of Education and Skills is opening a new second level college in Citywest within two years. The population and economic needs are there. I have asked many parliamentary questions and I am sorry for the Minister of State because I know he is going to read out the stock answer. I really wanted the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, to address what is going on and why this region is being denied the level of policing it had before in line with other parts of my constituency.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I must apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Flanagan. He wanted and meant to be here but was delayed at the last minute. I am speaking on his behalf. He is very grateful to the Deputy for raising this matter. He points out at the outset that the distribution of gardaí is exclusively the statutory responsibility of the Garda Commissioner and the Minister has no direct role in the matter.

As the Deputy will be aware, Rathcoole Garda station forms part of the Dublin metropolitan region, DMR, west division. The Minister is informed by the Commissioner that on 30 April 2018, the latest date for which figures are readily available, the strength of the DMR west division was 672, of whom 14 were assigned to Rathcoole Garda station, as the Deputy has already told us. There are also 26 Garda reserves and 55 civilians attached to the division.

The Minister assures the House that the Government is committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country in order to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and deter crime. To make this a reality for all, the Government has in place a plan for an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021, including 15,000 Garda members. The Minister maintains that real, tangible progress has been made towards this goal. Garda numbers, taking into account projected retirements, increased to 13,551 at the end of 2017, a net increase of over 600 since the end of 2016.

The Deputy will be aware that in 2010 a previous Government closed the Garda College and imposed a moratorium. The measures imposed at that time had a negative impact on Garda numbers across all divisions and the legacy of those decisions continues to have consequences for policing. When it had brought about an early exit from the bailout and stabilised the public finances in September 2014, the then Government reopened the college and since then just under 1,800 recruits have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and are performing mainstream duties nationwide. Some 155 of them have been assigned to the DMR west division.

It is important to appreciate that the increased specialisation in An Garda Síochána means the number of gardaí assigned to various divisions does not include those assigned to various special bureaus or units and, of course, those gardaí who are also undertaking critical policing work such as the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the armed support units, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. More than 120 extra gardaí were assigned to the specialist units within special crime operations since 2017 alone.

The Minister is pleased that funding is in place to maintain this high level of investment in the Garda workforce to ensure the vision of an overall workforce of 21,000 by 2021 remains on track. This year a further 800 new Garda recruits will enter the Garda College, 400 of whom have already done so. In total, 800 Garda trainees are scheduled to attest during the year, 200 of whom attested in March with a further 200 scheduled to attest next month. Garda numbers, taking account of projected retirements, are on track to reach 14,000 by the end of this year.

This focus on investment in personnel is critical. We are now rebuilding the organisation and providing the Garda Commissioner with the resources needed to deploy increasing numbers of gardaí. Undoubtedly, the ongoing recruitment process will support all Garda activities and enhance visibility in our communities. This will enable the Garda Commissioner to provide additional resources across every Garda division, including the DMR, Dublin metropolitan region, west division, as new Garda recruits continue to come on stream.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. However, as I anticipated, it does not address the issue I raised. Over the past four years, Rathcoole Garda station has seen a 40% reduction in personnel. That is not in line with anything that is happening. I am failing to get an explanation as to why and if the issue can be addressed. It is not as if Rathcoole is in a part of the country that is not growing. Its population is growing rapidly along with its economic activity. The concern I have is that with only 14 gardaí stationed in Rathcoole, the operation and viability of the Garda force there is somewhat challenged. It is two or three people per unit which does not even allow the Garda station to be regularly opened. There is only one community garda. The issue I raised in the significant change in Rathcoole has not been addressed in the Minister of State’s reply.

The Minister of State stated the number of gardaí had increased by 600 in 2017. That is correct. Of those, 120 were sent to specialist units. The number of gardaí in Dublin in 2017 actually declined but the number did not decline by 40% like in Rathcoole. There is no explanation as to why an area with a growing population and economic activity has seen such a decline. It affects not only the village of Rathcoole but Citywest shopping centre, industrial estate, hotel and conference centre. That whole catchment area has seen a significant reduction in the number of gardaí who patrol it. Just four years ago there were 23 gardaí based there and before that, 26. The numbers have been significantly higher but are now down to 14. Residents are quite concerned about the future viability of the Garda station in Rathcoole. While the Minister of State gave an answer - the answer I half expected - it was of a general nature and did not specifically address the Rathcoole issue. Will he ask the Department for some sort of explanation as to why this is so out of kilter with everything else in my area?

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Garda management keeps the distribution of resources under continual review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities. With regard to the deployment of Garda personnel, a distribution model is used which takes into account all relevant factors, including population, crime trends and the policing needs of each individual division. It is the responsibility of the divisional officer to allocate personnel within his or her division as appropriate. The Minister is advised by the Garda Commissioner that recent census data is currently being incorporated into the personnel allocation model. The Minister understands that census information received on a specific county format is amended by the Garda Síochána analysis service to reflect Garda divisional boundaries. However, it should be noted that ratios, such as the number of garda per head of population, are not an appropriate tool to use when considering the allocation of Garda resources as they fail to take into account, among other matters, the fact that crime levels and types can vary significantly among communities of similar population size.

The Government’s plans for an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 are complemented by substantial investment in resources across the board for the force. Of the significant resources which have been made available to the force under the Government’s capital plan 2016 to 2021, €270 million of additional funding has been provided for ICT and €46 million for new Garda vehicles. The investment will facilitate the provision of more effective policing services. The Minister expects the DMR west division, like all other divisions, will benefit from these new resources becoming available.