Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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179. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of vetting applications processed by Garda National Vetting Bureau in the years of 2024 and 2025 in tabular form; and the average turnaround time for such applications. [39751/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The primary purpose of vetting carried out by the Garda National Vetting Bureau (GNVB) is to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults.

Vetting is carried out by An Garda Síochána in accordance with the provisions of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 - 2016. As Minister, I have no role in such matters.

I believe the many organisations whose work focuses on the safety, enjoyment and comfort of children and vulnerable people understand that they must take all reasonable steps to ensure that only suitable people are recruited and employed, and take this responsibility very seriously. This requires a robust Garda vetting process that reassures the public, and in particular parents, that appropriate checks are conducted on people taking on positions of trust.

The Garda authorities have advised that their target turnaround times for Garda Vetting Applications is 5-10 working days from the date of receipt at the Garda National Vetting Bureau.

The current turnaround time for the vast majority of Garda Vetting Applications i.e. applications where they don’t need to take any further action or make any further enquiries on, is 8 working days. This is within their target turnaround times.

There are a number of factors outside of An Garda Síochána's control that can impact on the timeline for individual applications. These include if a person has lived overseas, for example. In these cases, An Garda Síochána must contact law enforcement partners in those countries to obtain information. This takes additional time.

The table below provides the number of vetting applications processed by the Garda National Vetting Bureau in 2024 and to date in 2025:

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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180. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of marked and unmarked Garda cars and marked vans attached to Galway division as of 8 July 2025; if he will provide same figures as of 31 December 2022, in tabular form. [39752/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to providing An Garda Síochána with the resources needed to keep people safe. This is reflected in the unprecedented allocation of over €2.48 billion in Budget 2025. This is allowing for sustained investment in recruitment, equipment, technology, and vehicles.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that as of 30 June 2025, the latest date for when figures are available, there were 3,679 vehicles attached to the Garda fleet. This is the highest total of vehicles ever in use by An Garda Síochána, and represents an increase of over 18% since the end of December 2020.

An Garda Síochána publishes statistics monthly on the Garda fleet, which can be viewed at:

The purchase and allocation of vehicles by An Garda Síochána is made on the basis of identified operational demands, the availability of resources, and is reviewed on a continual basis. An Garda Síochána have provided the information in the below table in relation to Marked/Unmarked Cars and Vans in Galway at 31 December 2022 and 30 June 2025. Information supplied is as of 30 June 2025 and is operational and subject to change.