Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 21: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the length of time Operation Anvil is in existence; the number of gardaí involved; the Garda stations to which they are attached; the number from each station; the number of overtime hours involved to date for each station; the cost of the operation to date; the number of drug searches conducted under Operation Anvil ; the number of arrests made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9772/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Operation Anvil commenced in the Dublin metropolitan region on 17 May 2005 with a view to addressing the problem of serious crime such as gun crime, robberies and burglaries and combating an emerging gun culture. At my request Operation Anvil is being extended outside the Dublin metropolitan region during 2006. I have also obtained funding to enable Operation Anvil to continue as long as it is deemed necessary in operational policing terms.

All operational personnel in the Dublin metropolitan region may be employed on Operation Anvil as the need arises. Personnel from the Garda national units are also deployed on the operation as appropriate.

The number of personnel deployed on the operation varies from time to time, depending on demands and available intelligence. Personnel from all Garda stations in the Dublin metropolitan region are actively involved in it. The operation has involved a large number of gardaí attached to stations in the Dublin metropolitan region and other specialist sections in the crime and security branch and the national support services branch. To maintain operation flexibility there has been no absolute overtime allocation to each Garda station.

There were 282,257 hours of overtime paid for Operation Anvil from its commencement up to 6 March 2006. The net incremental cost of the operation from its commencement to 6 March 2006 is €11,084,254. This figure includes the cost of overtime, travel and subsistence and other ancillary costs.

The most recent figures available show that Operation Anvil has contributed to encouraging outcomes, with a total number of arrests of 1,641 — which includes 23 arrests for murder, 411 arrests for serious assaults, 828 arrests for burglary and 379 arrests for robbery offences. Furthermore, the total number of firearms seized to date under Operation Anvil is 359, and property to the value of more than €5.7 million has been recovered.