Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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1062. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of juvenile liaison officerss attached to the Dublin metropolitan region north division for each year from 2009 to 2019 and to date in 2020, by division, district and sub-district in tabular form. [32844/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible by law for the distribution of personnel 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 not all of the information requested by the Deputy is readily available in the format requested, as JLOs are assigned on a Garda Divisional basis.

For the Deputy's information, the table below, as supplied by the Commissioner, sets out the number of JLOs assigned to the DMR North from 2009 and up to and including 30 September 2020.

The Deputy will be aware, as of 16 March 2020, a contingency roster was introduced into An Garda Síochána owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am informed by the Garda authorities that with the introduction of the contingency roster, Community Policing and JLO members have been allocated to regular units on a temporary basis to aid frontline policing during the epidemic. It should be noted that Community Policing duties were and are being conducted by members attached to the regular units. I am informed that these members will be returned to Community Policing and JLO in the near future and that while this contingency roster is in effect, JLOs are still performing their JLO duties.

General information on the Garda workforce is available on my Department's website at the following link