Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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206. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when he expects to move forward with hiring civilians to undertake administrative work within An Garda Síochána to free up gardaí to detect and prevent crime; if the hiring of civilians will commence or has already commenced in any specific districts or divisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35703/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The number of civilian staff in the Garda Síochána has increased in recent years to just over 2,000 whole time equivalent staff. Recruitment is carried out through the Public Appointments Service and the Commissioner is responsible for the detailed allocation of resources throughout the organisation.

These staff continue to provide vital 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.

Civilian staff have also been appointed to the senior management positions of Executive Director of Finance, Executive Director of IT and Head of Legal Affairs. The new Chief Administration Officer has also recently been appointed and a new Director of Communications is expected to take up that position in the near future. I have also received sanction form the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for the recruitment of two forensic Accountants in the Garda Síochána.

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 Haddington Road Agreement.