Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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551. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Garda juvenile liaison officers assigned to the Dublin metropolitan region north and north central respectively. [34857/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for managing An Garda Síochána, including personnel matters, and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter. Garda management keeps this distribution under review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities to ensure optimum use is made of the resources. 

I am advised by the Commissioner that Garda Juvenile Liaison Officers (JLOs) are specially trained to fulfil a key role in implementing the Garda Diversion Programme. Their role includes the administration of formal and informal cautions as well as appropriate supervision of children who have been admitted to the Diversion Programme, as provided in Part 4 of the Children Act 2001.

I am informed by the Commissioner that JLOs are assigned on a Garda Divisional basis. Accordingly, for the Deputy's information I have set out in the attached table, as supplied by the Commissioner, the figures by Division in each of the years 2008 to 30 June 2019, the latest date for which figures are currently available.

Juvenile Liaison Officers by Division 2008 -2019

For further information on the Garda Workforce please see the link below.

For more general information on Garda Facts and Figures please see the link below

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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552. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if a protective services unit has been established in the Dublin metropolitan region north and north central divisions respectively; and if so, if both divisions are fully staffed and operational. [34862/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, the management and efficient use of Garda resources is the responsibility of the Garda Commissioner. This includes responsibility for deployment of personnel.  As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.  I understand, however, that Garda management keeps the distribution of resources under continual review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities, to ensure their optimum use.

I have been informed by the Commissioner that to date, Divisional Protective Services Units have been established in DMR South Central, Waterford, Kerry, Kilkenny, Carlow, Limerick and Galway Garda Divisions. These are in addition to the units previously established in DMR West, Cork City and Louth Divisions in the initial phase of this initiative. 

I am informed by Garda management that it is expected that Divisional Protective Services Units should be rolled-out to the remaining Garda Divisions, including the Dublin Metropolitan Region North and North Central Divisions, on a phased basis by the end of 2019. This expected timetable is in accordance with the target set out in 'A Policing Service for the Future', the implementation plan giving effect to the recommendations of the Commission for the Future of Policing in Ireland.  

Finally and in terms of the current arrangements in the Divisions referred to, the Deputy may be interested to hear that Garda management has informed me that both DMR North and DMR North Central have Child Protection Units and further that DMR North has a Domestic Abuse Intervention Unit.