Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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512. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality for an update on the Adult Diversion Programme; the number who have availed of it in 2023; and the plans to improve the programme. [34104/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Adult Caution Scheme is a non-statutory scheme agreed between, and administered by, An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Both the Garda Commissioner and the Director of Public Prosecutions are independent in their functions and I, as Minister, have no role in the setting of criteria used when administering the Scheme.

However, I am advised that the Garda Authorities have published the policy documentation relating to the Scheme at the following link on the Garda website:

www.garda.ie/en/about-us/publications/policy-documents/adult-cautioning-scheme-policy-document-feb-21-.pdf.

To be of assistance, I have contacted the Garda authorities and been advised that the table below outlines the number of cautions issued for the years 2020 to 2022 and to date in 2023. Information is operational and subject to change, as available on PULSE on 5 July.

The top 3 incident types for which an Adult Caution was issued across the period covered by the table were: Public Order (36%), Theft (28%) and Drugs (19%).