Written answers
Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Department of Justice and Equality
An Garda Síochána
John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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1015. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the strength of the Garda traffic unit in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1460/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Road safety is a shared responsibility, and while led by the Department of Transport, it is one which is taken very seriously across Government.
I continue to engage with colleagues across Government to ensure that every effort is made to increase safety on our roads.
Road traffic laws are enforced by both Roads Policing Gardaí and as part of the day-to-day duties of uniformed Gardaí nationwide. This includes a programme of high-visibility road safety and enforcement operations carried out in partnership with other state agencies. The Commissioner has also directed that all uniform Garda members are to be deployed on high visibility roads policing operations, of 30 minutes duration, in each tour of duty.
I am advised that as of 31 October 2024 (the latest date for when published figures are available), there were 623 Roads Policing Gardaí assigned across all Divisions.
Funding provided by the Government under Budget 2024 allows for the recruitment of new Gardaí, which will increase the number of frontline Gardaí available to the Garda Commissioner to allocate as he deems appropriate. It is expected that it will soon be possible to allocate more members to the Roads Policing units. The Commissioner has said that 150 Gardaí will be added to Road Policing units by the end of 2025 in order to meet road safety targets.
The information in the below table, which was provided to me by the Garda authorities, sets out the number of Garda members by Division assigned to Roads Policing duty in the years 2020 up to 2023, and at 31 October 2024, the latest date for when figures are available. Please be advised that this information is operational and may be subject to change.
Roads Policing | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Oct-24 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
TOTAL | 733 | 736 | 692 | 632 | 623 |
John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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1016. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of members of the Garda traffic unit who have issued fixed notice charges in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1461/25]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including all operational policing matters. As Minister I have no role in such matters.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that, on examination of fixed charge penalties issued by Roads Policing members, they are unable to provide the requested information.
While the data for each fixed charge does record an issuing member, the data is not structured to allow An Garda Síochána to extract whether it was specifically issued by members attached to Roads Policing Units.
For the Deputy’s information, detailed statistics relating to Fixed Charged Notices are publicly available and can be found in the Garda Commissioner's monthly reports to the Policing Authority on the Garda website at the following link:
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