Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the number of requests received by the Revenue Commissioners to increase their number of customs dogs in each of the past three years; the number of requests that have been approved; the number of requests that were refused; if refused, the reasons for the refusal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47548/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that their Customs Service currently deploys 13 detector dog teams at strategic locations throughout the country. The dogs are used to detect drugs, tobacco and cash and are used at ports, airports, mail centres, express courier depots and are also used to assist in the course of certain investigations. “Passive dogs” are used as this maximises their capability, enabling the screening of passengers in addition to merchandise and baggage. The commissioning and deployment of dog detector teams is subject to ongoing evaluation by Revenue, two additional dog teams are currently undergoing training and will be fully operational in December 2012. When these new teams are operational the number of dog teams will stand at 15 (an increase of 9 since 1993). The Deputy may also be interested to note that where previously dogs were trained and deployed to detect only one commodity, where feasible newly deployed dogs are now trained to detect more than one.