Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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135. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí, by rank, attached to each protestor removal team within the Dublin metropolitan region, in tabular form. [43361/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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To be of assistance, I have contacted the Garda authorities who have informed me that currently there are 21 members, of Garda and Sergeant rank, trained in protest removal, attached to the DMR Public Order Unit. I am advised that Protest Removal Teams are sourced from the trained members, as required, to meet any operational requirements for deployment.

I am advised that a more detailed breakdown of these Garda members cannot be provided as data is not released by An Garda Síochána for counts less than 10, for data protection and security reasons.

The Deputy may also be interested to know that, in order to further support front-line Gardaí, including Public Order Units, the Garda Senior Management Team has agreed on a range of measures, which includes the following:

• stronger incapacitant spray,
• expansion of the dog unit,
• increasing public order training,
• more tasers for public order policing, and
• provision of hand-held video cameras for public order units.