Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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101. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her views on the need to build up to full strength the specialist units in An Garda Síochána involved in the fight against serious crime; and the current strength and target level for each, in tabular form. [18658/17]

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.

This Government is committed to ensuring that, in the context of the commitment in the Programme for Government to increase the overall Garda strength to 15,000, the specialist units that form Garda Special Crime Operations (formerly National Support Services) will be increased to the required strength as determined by the Garda Commissioner. I am informed that the Commissioner has recently held competitions to fill vacancies for members in Garda Special Crime Operations and the needs of each the specialist units will be considered by the Commissioner when assigning successful candidates from these competitions.

I am further informed by the Commissioner, since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, that 839 recruits have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide. I am also informed that another 750 trainee Garda are scheduled to attest this year which will see Garda numbers, taking account of projected retirements, increase to around the 13,500 mark by year end, an increase of 500 from the end of 2016. I expect that the specialist units will, like all policing activities, benefit as a result of these new resources coming on stream.

This investment in personnel is complemented by substantial investment in resources across the board for An Garda Síochána. The Deputy will be aware of the significant resources that have been made available to An Garda Síochána under the Government's Capital Plan 2016 - 2021. In particular, some €205 million in additional funding for Garda ICT and €46 million for new Garda vehicles has been allocated over the lifetime of the plan. This investment will facilitate the provision of more effective policing services and I have no doubt that these new resources now coming on stream will benefit all areas of Garda activity.

For the Deputy's information I have set out in the following table the strength of the specialist units which form Garda Special Crime Operations as of the 28 February 2017, the latest date for which figures are available. I am advised that for security and operational reasons the strength of other specialist units, namely: the Armed Response Units, Emergency Response Unit, Special Detective Unit and Security and Intelligence Section, cannot be provided.