Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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340. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of juvenile liaison officers, by rank, attached to the Meath Garda division as of 29 April 2024; and if she will provide same as of 1 January 2022, in tabular form. [20160/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible, by law, for the deployment of personnel and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter. Garda management keeps this deployment under review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities to ensure optimum use is made of available 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 advised by the Garda authorities that on 1 January 2022 and on 29 April 2024 there were fewer than ten JLO's assigned to Meath Division.

I am also advised that data is not released by An Garda Síochána for counts less than 10 for data protection reasons.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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341. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of new Garda unmarked Garda cars and marked Garda vans that came into the fleet in 2023 and to date in 2024; and the number of these types of vehicles withdrawn from the fleet during this period, in tabular form. [20161/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs to fight crime. An Garda Síochána has been allocated unprecedented funding of over €2.35 billion for 2024 – this is a 25% increase since 2020.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of Garda resources. I am advised by An Garda Síochána that the purchase and allocation of vehicles is made on the basis of identified operational demands and that the availability of resources is reviewed on a continual basis.

The table below outlines the number of unmarked Garda cars and marked Garda vans allocated and removed from the fleet in 2023 and to 30 April 2024.

Unmarked Garda Cars

Marked Garda Vans

All information is operational and may be subject to change.