Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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211. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of additional Garda members, reserve members and civilians which will be allocated to the Louth Garda division and to all other Garda divisions in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1952/17]

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.

This Government is committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country in order to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and deter crime. To make this a reality for all the Government has in place a plan to achieve an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021 comprising 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Reserve members and 4,000 civilians. In 2017, funding has been provided for the recruitment of 800 Garda recruits and up to 500 civilians to support the wide ranging reform plan in train in An Garda Síochána. Appointments will also be made to the Garda Reserve of approximately 300.

Taking account of projected retirements, reaching a strength of 15,000 will require some 3,200 new Garda members to be recruited on a phased basis over the next four years in addition to the 1,200 that have been recruited by the end of 2016 since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014. This is an ambitious target and will require a continuous pipeline of suitable candidates. I am pleased to say that the recruitment campaign launched by the Public Appointments Service on behalf of the Commissioner last September, the second campaign of 2016, again received a strong response.

Since the reopening of the Garda College, 679 recruits have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide, including 41 to the Louth Division. I am informed by the Garda Commissioner that another 900 trainee Garda are scheduled to attest in 2017 which when taking account of projected retirements will bring Garda numbers to around the 13,500 mark by year end.

In relation to the Garda Reserve, some 1,500 Reserves will require to be recruited over the next 5 years in order to achieve the medium term target of 2,000. The Commissioner is currently developing a recruitment and training plan to recruit 300 this year and annually thereafter. In the case of civilians the Government has approved a medium term target of 20% civilians by 2021 which equates to an increase in the number of civilians from approximately 2,000 at present to 4,000. This will bring An Garda Síochána, currently at 14% civilians, more in line with international norms. The target is to be achieved through the implementation of a combination of redeployment of Gardaí assigned to technical/administrative tasks to front-line policing duties and “civilian by default” policies. This latter policy refers to the Commissioner adopting a default position in relation to new posts that are not on their face operational policing posts.

As I have said funding for the recruitment of up to 500 civilians has been provided in Budget 2017.

The distribution of those recruited across the three personnel strands will be a matter for the Commissioner but undoubtedly all Divisions and Garda activities will benefit from the very substantial uplift in resources coming on stream this year and over the next number of years.