James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. Senator Blaney has been consistent in his support for An Garda Síochána and County Donegal both within the Chamber and with the Department of Justice.

This Government is steadfast in its commitment to building stronger, safer communities. Everyone deserves to be safe and to feel safe in their local community and this is a central tenet of Government policy. The Government remains committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs to police communities across the country and keep our communities safe. An unprecedented allocation of over €2 billion was provided in budget 2023 and this is funding the planned recruitment of up to 1,000 new Garda recruits as well as over 400 Garda staff.

The Senator will appreciate that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including the Garda estate, and the Minister has no operational responsibility in relation to Garda estate matters, such as the location of Garda stations. Similarly, the deployment of Garda members falls within the remit of the Commissioner and the Minister has no operational role concerning the allocation of Garda resources, as set out in law. The Minister is assured by the Commissioner that these matters are kept under continual review to deliver on An Garda Síochána's mission of keeping people safe.The Garda Commissioner continues to roll out the new Garda operating model provided for in the Garda Síochána (Functions and Operational Areas) Act 2022. This new operating model seeks to release front-line gardaí from roles that can be effectively carried out by civilian Garda staff, thereby facilitating a stronger focus on community safety. The new model will also enhance the investigation of crime through the delivery of greater range of specialised services in local areas, such as the investigation of sexual crime, domestic violence, cybercrime and economic crime.

The Garda operating model plans to replace 28 Garda divisions with 19 divisions. There are four functional areas within each operating model, namely, business services, community engagement, crime and performance assurance. Each division is headed up by a chief superintendent and each functional area is headed up by a superintendent, with an assistant principal officer leading on business services. The model as proposed by the Commissioner seeks to reduce significantly the administrative and bureaucratic workload that presently sits with superintendents at district level. Reducing this administrative workload will mean superintendents and local commanders will have the capacity to devote more time to community engagement duties, ensuring closer partnership and discussion on community policing matters and addressing local concerns.

As regards County Donegal, I am aware the Commissioner committed that superintendents would hold community forums throughout the county to hear from communities. More than ten of these meetings occurred in the first quarter of this year. Feedback from the meetings informs and influences local policing plans. I am advised by the Garda authorities that a significant amount of progress has been made across the Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal divisions to establish the business services functional area that will uplift the administrative and bureaucratic load from superintendents. The full operation of this support service will be in place by July and fully staffed by Garda civilian staff.

Finally, I am informed by An Garda Síochána that a review of the newly established three-county Mayo, Roscommon and Longford division is currently being undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the three-county model to date. The Garda review seeks to identify lessons learned from this for the benefit of future divisions, such as Donegal, scheduled to move to a three-county model.