Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of Garda business under Section 26 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended) which includes the recording of information on, and the maintenance of, the PULSE system. Data on drugs generally is provided in PULSE incidents recorded by An Garda Síochána.

I am advised by the Garda authorities that the table below indicates the number of charges created annually since 2017 where the offence was ‘Possession Of Drugs Contrary to Section 3 MDA’.MDA refers to the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977.

It is important to note, however, these are unique charges rather than unique people. A person may be charged multiple times for the same offence during a given year.

*The 2023 count is to 21 October 2023. Information supplied is operational and, as such, is subject to change.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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416. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the overall allocation to drugs units in each county in each of the years 2019 to 2022 and to date in 2023. [46663/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware the Garda Commissioner is operationally responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána. This includes the allocation of Garda members to a given area or specialist unit. As Minister I have no role in this matter.

I understand that the Deputy is referring to the number of Garda members assigned to the drugs units in each Garda Division. The below table, provided to me by the Garda authorities, outlines the number of members assigned in each drugs unit from 2019 to 2022, and, as of 30 September 2023, the latest date for which figures are available.