Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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100. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the Dublin armed response unit; if it is now operational; the number of gardaí assigned to it; if any of its members have been reassigned from existing Garda units; if so, the number of such gardaí; if all the vacancies arising in those units from reassignment have been filled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39651/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of resources, including personnel, among the various Garda Divisions and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter. Garda management keeps this distribution of resources under continual review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities so as to ensure that the optimum use is made of these resources.

I am informed by the Garda Commissioner that in regard to the deployment of Garda personnel, a distribution model is used which takes into account all relevant factors including population, crime trends and the policing needs of each individual Garda Division. It is the responsibility of the Divisional Officer to allocate personnel within his/her Division.

At the request of the Garda Commissioner earlier this year, the Government moved decisively to strengthen Garda resources to deal with gang-related crime in the Dublin area. In particular funding was approved for the establishment of a dedicated Armed Support Unit for the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) in order to enhance armed support capability in Dublin and to free up the resources of the ERU.

I am informed by the Garda Commissioner that following a selection and training process, the Armed Support Unit for the DMR will be fully operational imminently.

I am further informed that the information requested by the Deputy in relation to the number of Gardaí assigned to the ASU is deemed to be operationally sensitive and cannot be disclosed for security reasons.