Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 197: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide an update on An Garda Síochána civilianisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40136/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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There are currently over 2,000 full-time-equivalent civilian support staff in the Garda Síochána. These staff provide vital support services in a wide range of areas, such as human resources, training & development, IT and telecommunications, finance and procurement, internal audit, research and analysis, accommodation and fleet management, scene-of-crime support and medical services. In doing so, they release highly trained Gardaí from administrative tasks to operational policing.

While the current number of civilian support staff is an increase on previous years, the level of civilian support staff in the Garda Síochána is still lower than in comparable police forces. This is reflected in the 2009 Garda Inspectorate report on Resource Allocation, which called for the numbers of Gardaí available for operational duty to be maximised through a structured programme of civilianisation.

We will continue to maximise the number of civilian support staff in An Garda Síochána consistent with overall policy on numbers in the public service and taking into account the scope for the appropriate redeployment of staff from elsewhere in the public service as part of the reform process under the Croke Park Agreement.