Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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364. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of new gardaí who have passed out of Templemore in the past five years by the county in which they were stationed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5641/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including the deployment of Garda members. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.

I am assured, however, that Garda management keeps this distribution of resources under continual review in the context of policing priorities and crime trends, to ensure their optimum use. I further understand that it is a matter for the Divisional Chief Superintendent to determine the optimum distribution of duties among the personnel available to him or her, having regard to the profile of each area within the Division and its specific needs.

I am also pleased to note that since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, a total of 3,781 Garda members have been assigned to Garda Divisions throughout the country. For the Deputy's information, the allocation of Probationer Gardaí by Division from 2015 up to 21 January 2022 is published on my Department's Website and can be accessed using the following link:

www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Probationer_Gardaí

Budget 2022 has provided an unprecedented allocation of in excess of €2 billion to An Garda Síochána, which includes funding for the recruitment of up to an additional 800 Gardaí and a further 400 Garda staff, subject to the public health situation. This significant investment demonstrates the Government's commitment to increasing the Garda workforce to enable the organisation to keep our communities safe.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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365. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of arrests that were made of persons who were under 18 years of age by the category of the arrest, for example, possession of drugs and so on, by county in each of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5644/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 was launched in April 2021. The immediate priority within the Strategy is to enhance engagement with children and young people who are most at risk of involvement in criminal activity, principally by strengthening the services available through the existing network of 105 Youth Diversion Projects (YDPs) across the State.

YDPs engage with young people through a range of supports, including education, training and employment support, social enterprise initiatives, as well as personal development activities and supports such as mentoring.

Dedicated cross-agency oversight structures have been established to monitor and support the implementation of the Youth Justice Strategy, and these are further assisted by a Youth Justice Advisory Group that provides a standing forum to reflect views and concerns from the community sector and expert stakeholders.

The table below, which has been provided to me by the Garda authorities, sets out the number of persons under the age of 18 years associated with prisoner logs by Division for the period 1 January 2017 up to 31 December 2021. The information has been compiled following a search of the PULSE database for prisoner logs associated with persons under the age of 18 years old at time of arrest.

I am advised by An Garda Síochána that to provide a breakdown of all offences as requested by the Deputy would require an inordinate expenditure of Garda time and resources, as the scope of the request is so large.

However, An Garda Síochána have been able to advise that approximately 29% of all arrests over this 5 year period related to Public Order Offences, 19% related to Theft Offences and 7% related to Drugs Offences.

Incident data is based upon operational data from the PULSE system as was available at 01:00 on 31/01/2022 and is liable to change.