Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will immediately lift the recruitment ban on An Garda Síochána to deal with the increase in serious and organised crime over the past few months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42160/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I would like to take this opportunity to once again utterly condemn the murders that have taken place in recent days. The Gardaí will continue to bear down heavily on the activities of those involved in gangland crime. That is clear from the series of recent operations they have launched against gangs and the many drug seizures that have taken place in recent weeks. I should also mention the most recent recorded crime statistics, which were released last week, and which show that most categories of crime are falling, which also reflects well on the work of An Garda Síochána. These figures showed that in the 12 month period to end-June murder had decreased by 8%.

The moratorium on recruitment and appointments across the public sector remains in place. The question of when recruitment will recommence in the Garda Síochána will be determined by the level of budgetary provision that can be made for the Garda Síochána. The matter is kept under constant review by myself and my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. It must be remembered that we must reduce public expenditure to a sustainable level. This means, among other things, reducing expenditure on public service pay, whether by reducing headcount or otherwise. This is particularly so in those public service bodies where pay forms an especially large part of overall expenditure, such as the Garda Síochána where 90% of expenditure is on pay and pensions.