James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset, I would like to assure the Deputy that this Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities in rural Ireland and in our towns and cities. Everybody has the right to feel safe and to be safe in their homes and on their land and property.

The Rural Safety Plan 2022-2024, published by my Department, is the result of strong collaboration between all the relevant organisations and brings together the excellent work already underway in relation to rural safety. The Plan is not intended to replace, but rather supplement, this work. The vision of the Rural Safety Plan is for people and communities in rural Ireland to feel safe and be safe in their homes, their places of work, and their local environments.

This vision is consistent with the community safety policy, currently being piloted through Local Community Safety Partnerships in three locations (Longford, Waterford and North Inner City Dublin) which represent a mix of rural and urban areas of various population densities. The learning from the ongoing evaluation of these three pilot projects is feeding into the planned national rollout of Local Community Safety Partnerships, which will be provided for through the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill which is currently going through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

More generally, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána. This includes the allocation of resources, including Garda personnel to a given Division, District or Station.

My Department is committed to ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs, with an unprecedented €2 billion plus budget in 2023. This is allowing for the continued recruitment of Gardaí and Garda staff and we are seeing Garda recruits enter Templemore every 11 weeks. 92 recruits entered the Training College late November, 135 in February and another 154 in May. Another class will enter the college at the end of July.

In addition to new recruits, the rollout of the new Garda Operating Model will support the redeployment of Gardaí from non-core duties to frontline policing across the country. The new model will result in a reduction in the number of Garda Divisions from the current 28 to 19 with each comprised of four Functional Areas: Community Engagement, Crime, Performance Assurance and Business Services. The new Operating Model is currently being rolled out in all divisions and is fully commenced in six - Dublin South Central, Cork City, Kerry, Galway, Limerick and Mayo-Roscommon-Longford which was rolled out in 2022.

The new model, introduces major changes to the structures of An Garda Síochána by providing more front-line Gardaí, increased Garda visibility, and a wider range of policing services for people in their local area. It will particularly enhance the investigation of crime through the delivery of a greater range of specialised services in local areas such as the investigation of sexual crime, domestic violence, cyber-crime, and economic crime.

As the Deputy will be aware, in 2015, An Garda Síochána launched the highly successful Operation Thor, a nationwide operation established to tackle burglary and prosecute offenders.

Operation Thor actively targets organised crime gangs and repeat offenders through co-ordinated crime prevention and enforcement activity based on intelligence and the latest burglary trends. Since its inception in 2015, burglary has been trending downwards with overall reported burglary in 2022 45% lower than pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

Taken together with other initiatives such as the Community Text Alert Scheme and property marking, these resources will help keep people safe in rural Ireland.