Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 342: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will provide in tabular form the number of community gardaí in each station around the country, for every year between 2002 and 2008. [42309/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Garda Commissioner that the number of Community Gardaí attached to each Garda Station in the Dublin Metropolitan Region as at 31 December 2003-2007 and as of 31 October 2008, the latest date for which figures are readily available, was as set out in the following table. Also included in the table is the number of Community Gardaí for the rest of the country for 31 December 2005-2007 and as of 31 October 2008. However, figures for Community Gardaí in the DMR for 2002 and figures for Community Gardaí for the rest of the country for the period 2002-2004 are not readily available and can only be obtained by the disproportionate expenditure of Garda time and resources relative to the information sought.

The Deputy will be aware that boundary changes have taken place in DMR East, Louth, Meath and Wicklow in recent times. The 2008 figures reflect the current position. It is, of course, the case that all Gardaí have a role to play in addressing community policing issues as and when the need arises. In that sense, community policing involves far more than a single unit within the Garda Síochána, and I agree with the view expressed by the Garda Inspectorate in its third report entitled "Policing in Ireland — Looking Forward" that community policing is a fundamental policing philosophy and that there is a strong foundation for it in Ireland.