John Brady
Question:1015. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Justice 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]
View answerWednesday, 22 January 2025
Questions (1015)
Written answers
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
|