Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 136: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the cost to the Garda of policing the Ryder Cup; and if moneys have been paid to the State by the organisation responsible for organising the Ryder Cup.. [30368/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I have been informed by the Garda authorities, who are responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, that the personnel strength (all ranks) of An Garda Síochána increased to a record 12,762 on Friday, 8 September, 2006, following the attestation of 249 new members. This compares with a total strength of 10,702 (all ranks) as at 30 June, 1997 and represents an increase of 2,060 (or 19%) in the personnel strength of the Force during that period. The Garda Budget now stands at €1.3 billion, a 13% increase on 2005 and an 85% increase since 1997 in real terms.

I have also been informed by the Garda authorities that following negotiations between the Ryder Cup organisation and An Garda Síochána it was agreed that an amount of €1.7m would be paid by that organisation towards the cost of policing the 2006 Ryder Cup. An invoice for €850,000, being the first instalment due, has recently issued by the Garda authorities to the Ryder Cup organisation. A project code was established by An Garda Síochána to capture the costs associated with the policing of the 2006 Ryder Cup. A total costing of this event will not be available until all expenditure claims have been processed. Due to the large volume of claims involved and the fact that the Ryder Cup only concluded on Sunday last, 24 September, it will be a number of weeks before this information is to hand.

I should add that the current recruitment drive to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 members, in line with the commitment in the 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. The first three groups of newly attested Gardaí under this accelerated recruitment programme came on stream in March, June and September of this year and the fourth such group will become fully attested members of the Force later this year. Further tranches of approximately 275 newly attested Gardaí will follow every 90 days thereafter until the programme is complete. The Garda Commissioner will now be drawing up plans on how best to distribute and manage these additional resources, and in this context the needs of Divisions will be given the fullest consideration.