Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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406. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Garda stations in the Louth Garda division that had access to broadband in each year since 2009. [35441/18]

Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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407. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Garda stations in the Louth Garda division that had access to high-speed broadband in each year since 2009. [35442/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 406 and 407 together.

As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is primarily responsible for the effective and efficient use of the resources available to An Garda Síochána. Further, decisions in relation to the provision and allocation of Garda equipment and resources, including ICT resources and the networking of Garda stations, are matters for the Garda Commissioner in light of availability of resources and his identified operational demands.  As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that broadband networks and services are used to connect stations to the Garda network for official purposes. All of the connections to the Garda stations are managed in Telecommunications Division to ensure the speed of the network connection meets the requirements of the particular location.

I am further informed by the Garda authorities that there are 13 Garda Stations in the Louth Division. I understand that to provide details by year would be a voluminous task and would require a manual check of billing for a ten year period.

However, the Garda authorities have confirmed that 9 stations were connected to the Garda network in the Louth Division as of 2014. 4 additional stations in the Division have been connected to the Garda network since that time.  As such, the Garda authorities have confirmed that all 13 stations in the Louth Division are now connected to the Garda network.