Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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54. To ask the Taoiseach if he has had any requests from the DPP for extra resources between 1 January 2020 to 7 February 2025. [5138/25]

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Section 2 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974 explicitly provides that the Director of Public Prosecutions shall be independent in the performance of their functions. One of the ways effect is given to this independence is that funding for the Director’s Office is provided through a separate Vote: Vote 5 – Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. While I have a role in presenting Estimates for Vote 5 to the Oireachtas annually, neither I nor my officials exercise any control in relation to how the Director discharges their functions.

I can confirm that over the period 1st January 2020 to 7th February 2025, I have received correspondence in relation to resourcing in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Over the same period, sanctioned staffing levels in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions have risen from 220* in 2020 to 337* in 2025. This represents an increase of some 53% in sanctioned staff headcount. Similarly, over this period, net annual funding provided to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has increased by 64% from €43.9m in 2020 to €72m in 2025.

(*) Full-time equivalent