Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 189: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the Garda vehicle capacity to store impounded cars with a breakdown of such storage capacity in each Garda division; the number of vehicles impounded in each by the Gardaí from 2000 to date in 2008 with a breakdown of the cars impounded which were nationally registered or which were non-national; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18969/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Garda authorities that the capacity to store impounded vehicles in each Garda Division is dependent on a number of factors including the size of the car park contiguous to each Garda Station and the car parking requirements for the number of official vehicles and members allocated to each Garda Station. Given the fluidity of these factors it is not possible to give a definitive storage capacity for each Garda Division for the period from 2000 to date in 2008.

To ensure that each Garda Division has the storage capacity for impounded vehicles to match operational requirements, a pilot project to outsource the towing, storage and, if necessary, disposal of impounded vehicles was undertaken in Cork city. Following the completion of the pilot in Cork city and its successful evaluation, it is proposed to extend this type of arrangement to Limerick and Galway following completion of a public tendering process.

The tables hereunder provide a breakdown of vehicles impounded by Garda Division from 2002 to date in 2008. The figures for 2000 are not available and a different counting system was used for 2001 and accordingly it is not possible to provide comparable figures for that year.