Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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475. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality for the number of community Gardaí, by station, in Ronanstown, Lucan, Clondalkin, Rathcoole and Tallaght, for each year from 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49992/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, including the distribution and stationing of Garda members throughout the State. As Minister, I have no role in such matters.

Everyone has a right to be safe and to feel safe in their community and in their home, and in the Programme for Government we are dedicated to enhancing community safety by implementing comprehensive measures to address crime and support local policing efforts.

An Garda Síochána publishes data on the allocation of Community Gardaí by Division. This can be found at the following link:

www.garda.ie/en/about-us/our-departments/human-resources-and-people-development/garda-hr-directorate/garda-strength-breakdown-2025/.

The Deputy should select the Garda Workforce figures for July and access the file titled “Community Garda by Division 2008 to 31 July 2025” for a breakdown of Gardaí by Division going back to 2008.

I would also emphasise that community policing is at the heart of An Garda Síochána, and all Gardaí have a role to play in community policing in the course of carrying out their duties.

Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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476. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of evidential breath testing machines currently available for use in each Garda division as of 8 September 2025, in tabular form. [50016/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Garda authorities have advised there are currently 86 evidential breath testing machines in operation nationwide. The following table outlines the number of machines in each Division.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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477. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons who have been arrested over the past five years under gangland legislation in relation to economic crime including fraud, identity theft, and money laundering; and the number of those cases that proceeded to successful prosecution. [50118/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, management of the courts, along with related operational matters and logistical functions, are the responsibility of the judiciary and Courts Service, which are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and the Constitution.

It should be noted that the Department does not record data relating to convictions, as this is a function of the courts.

The Courts Service has a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the Oireachtas: oireachtasenquiries@courts.ie

To be of assistance I have requested the relevant arrest data from An Garda Síochána. They have provided the below table which lists the number of arrests per year where the reason given for the arrest was Fraud/Economic Crime.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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478. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of reported crimes against pharmacies in each of the past three years; the breakdown, by type of offence that is, theft, burglary, assault and robbery; and the number of cases that resulted in prosecution and conviction. [50132/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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This Government takes any risk to retailers and retail staff very seriously. I am acutely aware of the personal and economic impact that retail crime is having on businesses, shop workers, and communities. I recognise that shoplifting and organised retail crime pose a significant threat to the economic welfare of Irish retailers and that retail theft is not a victimless crime.

I have sought the requested information from the Garda authorities and I am advised that the table below sets out the reported crimes against pharmacies in each of the past 3 years.

Crimes against pharmacies* in the past 3 years

It should be noted that the Department does not record data relating to convictions, as this is a function of the courts, which are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and the separation of powers in the Constitution.

The Courts Service does have a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the Oireachtas: oireachtasenquiries@courts.ie. The Deputy should contact the Courts Service directly for the information sought.

The Programme for Government commits to publishing a Retail Crime Strategy with targeted actions to reduce retail crime and support affected businesses. Work has already commenced on preparing this Strategy. I met with and heard from the retail community earlier this year with regard to this.

My officials, together with officials in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, are considering their suggestions in the context of the development of the retail crime strategy. My Department has also undertaken some research into how other jurisdictions are tackling such matters so see if we can learn from best practice elsewhere. A coordinated approach across sectors will be required if strong, tangible actions are to be identified, implemented and achieved within the context of the Retail Crime Strategy.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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479. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she has reviewed a recent survey (details supplied) which indicated that almost 90% of pharmacies experienced crime in the past year; and if so, the measures being taken to respond to the concerns raised by pharmacists who describe themselves as easy prey. [50133/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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481. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps being taken to address the issue of repeat offenders who target pharmacies, given that a survey shows that the same individuals are responsible for a large proportion of incidents. [50135/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 479 and 481 together.

This Government takes any risk to retailers and retail staff very seriously. As Minister, I am acutely aware of the personal and economic impact that retail crime is having on businesses, shop workers, and communities. I recognise that shoplifting and organised retail crime pose a significant threat to the economic welfare of Irish retailers and that retail theft is not a victimless crime.

The Programme for government commits to publishing a Retail Crime Strategy with targeted actions to reduce retail crime and support affected businesses. Work has already commenced on preparing this Strategy. I met with, and heard from, the retail community earlier this year with regard to this.

My Department is organising a targeted stakeholder engagement event with members of the Retail Forum on the new Retail Crime Strategy. This event will centre on discussions around what the strategy may contain and provides an opportunity for stakeholders to inform the ongoing development of a new Retail Crime Strategy. My Department has also undertaken some research into how other jurisdictions are tackling such matters so see if we can learn from best practice elsewhere.

A coordinated approach across sectors will be required if strong, tangible actions are to be identified, implemented and achieved within the context of the Retail Crime Strategy.

The Programme for Government also makes a number of other commitments in relation to retail crime. These include:

• Support Garda Operations to tackle retail crime including through the use of organised crime and proceeds of crime legislation;
• Examine the introduction of a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker;
• Tackle the practice of “retail defamation”;
• Improve data sharing between retailers and Gardaí;
• Expand the use of community sanctions for retail crime;
• Update the Public Order Acts to allow a prolific offender to be excluded from a retail premises for a certain period of time.

• Supporting and resourcing ‘Operation Táirge’ which is a dedicated Garda operation aimed at detecting and preventing organised retail crime;
• Supporting An Garda Síochána: Budget 2025 provides a record allocation of over €2.48 billion to An Garda Síochána – this is a 27% increase since 2020 and garda recruitment is ongoing to increase numbers further;
• The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment holds a Retail Forum on a quarterly basis with retailers and representative bodies, hosted by the Minister of State with responsibility for Small Businesses and Retail. This provides an opportunity to discuss key issues of importance with stakeholders in the sector. An Garda Síochána provide an update on retail crime matters at each forum;
• Introducing new legislation to allow the Courts make Exclusion Orders to exclude prolific offenders engaged in retail crime from a premises/area for a period of time.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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480. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the average Garda response time to pharmacy panic alarms or emergency calls in the past year; and if protocols are in place to ensure rapid response to pharmacies reporting incidents of crime or intimidation. [50134/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Garda Commissioner is by law responsible for the management and administration of Garda business. As Minister, I do not direct the Commissioner on operational policing matters including response times to emergency calls.

I am informed by Garda authorities that GardaSAFE, the new computer aided dispatch system in the Garda Síochána, was rolled out incrementally across the organisation in 2023. The last region, the Dublin Metropolitan Region, went live on GardaSAFE in late November 2023.

At present, while there are some reports available, these are focused on live operational aspects for the Control Rooms to monitor call volumes.

As with any new system, over time and as the amount of data available from GardaSAFE increases, there will be additional reports available and it will be possible to utilise the data for bespoke queries and analysis.

The increased data now available within the system is currently being reviewed for quality and consistency to enable this bespoke querying and analysis. Significant work has been completed in this regard and reporting capability is expected to be available by Q4 2025.