Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that even in the event of the extra 2,000 gardaí promised, which have not as yet materialised, there will still remain a serious under-strength in the Garda Síochána in view of the demographic changes that have taken place in the past number of years with particular reference to large areas of new urbanisation which does not have policing levels in keeping with the population increases and best practise in other jurisdictions; his proposals to increase Garda strength further to meet such requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35701/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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At the outset, I recall that in October 2004, the Government approved my proposal to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 in line with the commitment contained in An Agreed Programme for Government. I subsequently announced the time-table for implementation of the expansion of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 at a press conference at Garda headquarters on 14 October 2004. The timetable published by me at that time showed clearly and unambiguously what was committed to, how it will be done and when it will be done.

I am pleased to say that the timetable for the expansion of the force, which takes into account the numbers likely to retire, is right on target. It will be delivered in full. The number of fully attested members of the Garda Síochána and recruits in training will exceed the figure of 14,000 in December 2006, only 13 months away, with a fully attested strength of 14,000 by 2008. The expansion of facilities at Templemore to facilitate the increased intakes is also taking place within the envisaged timeframe.

I have also on two occasions amended the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) Regulations to broaden the eligibility criteria for entry to the force. This has resulted in an increase in the maximum age for entry to the force from 26 to 35 years of age, and more recently, changes which will give greater possibilities for entry to the Garda Síochána from members of ethnic and religious minorities to ensure that the composition of the force can be fully representative of the community it serves. The second recruitment competition under this accelerated programme is currently being processed by the Public Appointments Service in conjunction with Garda human resource management. This will provide a continuous stream of high quality Garda recruits to meet this ambitious programme of quarterly intakes of approximately 275 over the lifetime of this project.

I note the party of which Deputy Durkan is a member did not give any commitment to increase the force in 1997 or 2002. Indeed when his party was last in Government the strength of the force actually decreased from 10,827 to 10,804. The proposal to increase the strength of the force to the level of 14,000 members took full account of — and indeed was in considerable part motivated by — projected population increases, particularly in growing urban areas. Taking into account projected population increase between now and 2008, the increase in the force strength to 14,000 members, which at over 16% will far exceed the increase in population, will yield a significant improvement in the police:population ratio.

As regards the specific deployment of these very significant additional resources, both in growing urban areas and generally, the Garda Commissioner will target the areas of greatest need, as is envisaged in An Agreed Programme for Government. The programme identifies in particular areas with a significant drugs problem and a large number of public order offences but it will be possible to address other priorities as well, such as the need to very significantly increase the number of gardaí allocated to traffic duties as part of the new Garda traffic corps. One thing I have already promised is that the additional gardaí will not be put on administrative duties. They will be put directly into frontline, operational, high-visibility policing. They will have a real impact. In addition to the expansion of the force outlined above, I have separately outlined my intention to supplement further the operational capacity of the force by way of establishment of a voluntary Garda reserve, as provided for in the Garda Síochána Act 2005. The purpose of the Garda reserve, which is a standard feature of policing in many other common law countries, will be to assist the Garda Síochána in the performance of its functions. I have asked the Garda Commissioner to submit proposals to me for the reserve, addressing all relevant recruitment, training and development issues. As I announced in last week's Estimates, it is my objective that 900 members of the reserve will be recruited and trained by September 2006.