Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has received a recommendation from the Garda Commissioner that the full-time strength of the Garda should be increased to 15,000; if he intends to act on the Commissioner's recommendation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15650/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I can inform the Deputy that in July 2005, as part of a submission on the future resource requirements of the Garda Síochána, the Garda Commissioner proposed that, on achieving the current target strength of 14,000 members, we should proceed to expand the force to 15,000 members. Other issues in the Commissioner's submission included proposals for additional civilian staff, the establishment of a Garda Reserve, and additional resources for Garda overtime.

On these other issues, I have put in place, with Government approval, a programme of redeployment of civilian staff from elsewhere in the public service to the Garda Síochána, I am proceeding with the establishment of the Garda Reserve, and the allocation in this year's Garda budget for overtime has been very significantly increased.

On the question of the strength of the Garda Síochána, the recruitment drive to increase the strength to 14,000 members in line with the commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government is fully on target. This will lead to a combined strength, of both attested gardaí and recruits in training, of 14,000 by the end of this year.

As to the question of continuing the current recruitment drive so as to further increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 15,000, one of the first tasks I envisage for the new Garda inspectorate will be an assessment of the future resource requirements of the Garda Síochána. The inspectorate, which is provided for in the Garda Síochána Act 2005, will be made up of a chief inspector and two inspectors. The recruitment process is now under way. The purpose of the inspectorate will be to seek to ensure that the resources of the Garda Síochána are used to achieve the highest levels of efficiency and effectiveness, benchmarked against best international police standards. I expect that the inspectorate's assessment will include an evaluation not only of the future case for additional gardaí, but also the case for enhanced civilian support, both administrative and technical, so as to free up gardaí for operational policing, as well as the case for more effective deployment of resources.

It seems that any decision on further increasing the strength of the Garda Síochána beyond the current expansion by 2,000 members, which is an increase in strength of just over 16%, should await the outcome of such an evaluation.