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(Speaker Continuing)
[Deputy Charles Flanagan:   ] Furthermore, it is to be noted that in respect of burglaries the decrease in the Laois Offaly division, referred to by the Deputy, for this period is 7% higher than the national average. The decrease in burglary is of the order of 37%. I compliment the gardaí in the Laois Offaly division under the active leadership of Chief Superintendent John Scanlon on their success in this regard. The Government remains committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country in order to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and deter criminal activity. To make this a reality for all, the Government has in place a plan to achieve an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021, comprising 15,000 garda members, 2,000 members of the Garda Reserve and 4,000 civilians.
As the House will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of resources, including personnel, among the various divisions. I, as Minister, do not have a direct role in the matter. I am, however, informed by the Acting Commissioner that the Garda strength of the Laois Offaly division as of 31 August 2017, the latest date for which figures are readily available, was 325. There are also 17 reservists and 24 civilians attached to the Laois Offaly division. When appropriate, the work of local gardaí is supported by a number of Garda national units such as the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. I am further informed by the Acting Commissioner that since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, almost 1,400 recruits have attested as members of An Garda Síochána and have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide. A total of 66 of these have been assigned to the Laois Offaly division. In addition, another 200 trainee gardaí are scheduled to attest later this year. Taking account of projected retirements, this will see Garda numbers increase to approximately 13,500 by year end, an increase of 500 since the end of 2016.
I am pleased to add that budget 2018 will support the continuation of this high level of investment in the Garda workforce to ensure the vision of an overall workforce of 21,000 by 2021 remains firmly on track. In 2018, a further 800 new Garda recruits will enter the Garda College and an additional 500 civilians will also be recruited to fill critical skills gaps throughout the organisation and to facilitate the redeployment of gardaí from administrative and technical duties to front-line operational duties. There are plans to strengthen the Garda Reserve with new reservists expected to commence training early in 2018.
This focus on investment in personnel is critical. I wish to assure the Deputy that we will continue to rebuild the Garda organisation, provide the Commissioner with an appropriate level of resources in order to deploy increasing numbers of gardaí to every Garda division, including the Laois Offaly division referred to by the Deputy, in the coming period.
Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy: I thank the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, for his response. I fully concur with his remarks about Chief Superintendent Scanlan. I welcome the excellent news that the figures for burglaries are down in the division. However, one burglary to those affected is one too many. I know that there will always be a drive to keep these figures down.
I also acknowledge that the Garda Commissioner is in fact responsible and not the Minister directly. However, anecdotally I am advised that there are specific numbers of gardaí allocated to certain divisions. I have in mind of the west Offaly area in particular. I am keen to ensure that those who are allocated and deployed to cover the area are in fact physically present in the area. I would greatly appreciate any effort that the Minister can make on behalf of myself and the communities who have been affected to ensure that each station is adequately covered by the number of staff allocated. I am keen to ensure that the number allocated to the stations in Ferbane, Cloghan and Banagher are actually deployed there.
I know the Minister will want to ensure that the resources allocated are being allocated and used in a good way that will have a positive outcome. The moratorium on recruitment, which was imposed in 2010 by the then Fianna Fáil Government, has lifted and newly-trained gardaí are stationed in rural towns and villages. I am sure this will instil a measure of confidence in communities because gardaí will be visible on the ground and they will consider themselves in a better position to respond to any of the criminal activities that I outlined earlier.
Deputy Charles Flanagan: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I mentioned earlier the overall plan on the part of the Government to increase the garda workforce to 21,000. This is complemented by a significant investment in resources across the board for An Garda Síochána. I have secured a total budget of €1.65 billion for An Garda Síochána for next year.
It should be noted that the Garda allocation continues to substantially benefit from significant additional funding that was provided in 2016 and maintained in 2017. Funding will increase again for 2018 in order to ensure: that we are funding a sustained response to tackle gangland crime; that we fund the continuation of Operation Thor; and that measures to prevent international terrorism can be actively continued. In addition, I wish to highlight the importance for the Government of projects involving communities and An Garda Síochána working together. I was pleased to announce in the context of budget 2018 that it is possible to allocate an additional €100,000 for local crime prevention initiatives, including the effective text alert scheme, whereby crime prevention messages, general and specific to an area, are sent out by An Garda Síochána to community groups and are disseminated to members of communities. Some €330 million, including in excess of €200 million under the capital plan, is being invested in Garda information and communication technology infrastructure during the period from 2016-21. This major investment will allow An Garda Síochána to deploy the latest cutting-edge technologies in the fight against crime. It will facilitate progress on important reforms arising from the Garda Inspectorate report on criminal investigation. The capital plan 2016-21 provides for an investment of €46 million in the Garda fleet to ensure the Garda Síochána has a modern effective and fit-for-purpose fleet. The Deputy will be aware of new additions to the Garda fleet in County Offaly and throughout the Laois Offaly division. This is in addition to the investment of almost €30 million in the period 2013-15. The capital plan makes reference to substantial refurbishment to the Laois Offaly division headquarters at Portlaoise. In the period to the end of 2013-17, almost €44 million will have been invested in the fleet with some 2,000 vehicles coming on-stream over that period.
I wish to assure the Deputy and the House that investment will facilitate the provision of a more effective policing service throughout the country. Of course it is reasonable for me to assume that the Laois Offaly division will, like all other Garda divisions, benefit from these new resources becoming available.
Acting Chairman (Deputy Eugene Murphy): I thank the two Deputies for putting down those questions and I thank the Minister for coming in to answer them.
Flood Risk Management
Acting Chairman (Deputy Eugene Murphy): I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, to the House. Deputy Calleary, you are going to discuss an issue that is close to my heart, that is, the need to address river cleaning and drainage in advance of winter storms. You have four minutes.
Deputy Dara Calleary: I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for giving us the go-ahead to raise this matter this evening. I want to join everyone in recent days who has paid tribute to Met Éireann and the National Emergency Co-ordination Centre as well as our local and national media and everyone who was involved in preparing us for the response to Storm Ophelia on Monday.
I extend my sympathies to the families of the three people who, unfortunately, lost their lives during that event. I believe those losses would have been considerably greater were it not for the response, communications and absolute commitment. The staff of Met Éireann deserve particular acknowledgement for their work. We think of all the crews out this afternoon throughout the country repairing the damage done, including crews from ESB, Irish Water and local authority crews etc.
However, we are now on the cusp of a weekend of two significant rain events. We have a status yellow warning in place for Munster, Dublin and a large number of counties around Dublin. Now, we have a status yellow weather advisory in place for the weekend for the whole island. I am concerned that river levels throughout the country are far higher than they would normally be at this time of year because of the wet summer and the events of recent weeks. While Storm Ophelia was not necessarily a rain-led event, water levels did rise considerably during Monday. There is now nowhere for any excess water to go. This will result in significant and severe flooding either this weekend or at some stage during the course of the winter. What plans are in place to deal with that? |
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