Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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118. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the reason for the 8% reduction in the Garda training and development budget in 2018. [44093/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm for the Deputy that there are no reductions in the Garda training budget. It was noted in the published Budget Day estimate for 2018 for the Garda Vote that a proportion of the estimate for some items, including the subhead to which the Deputy refers is now reflected in a new subhead for the Garda College. This has led to the reallocation of certain costs between subheads in 2018 compared with 2017. This will be apparent in the more detailed subhead information to be published in the Revised Estimates Volume later in the year but I can inform the Deputy that the allocation for the Garda College is in the region of €30.5 million.

A total budget of €1.65 billion has been provided to An Garda Siochána in 2018, an increase of 2% on 2017. It should be noted that the Garda allocation substantially continues to benefit from the significant additional funding that was provided in 2016, and maintained in 2017, to fund the sustained response to tackle gangland crime, fund the continuation of Operation Thor and ensure that measures to prevent international terrorism can be continued.

The training costs of An Garda Síochána are an intrinsic part of the overall allocation, which are absorbed throughout the Garda Vote whether in the payroll costs of the personnel providing the training or the travel and subsistence costs of members travelling to regional centres for in-service training etc. The vast bulk of training to members of An Garda Siochána is provided internally by suitably qualified personnel.

It is the case that the training requirement will even grow further over the next couple of years to correspond with the increase in personnel in the organisation as well as the deployment of new ICT systems underpinning the unprecedented level of investment under the Modernisation and Renewal Programme. This requirement will be kept under review with An Garda Síochána.