160. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons in the State who have been arrested under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 since 2016. [57957/21] 

Helen McEntee Minister for Justice: As the Deputy will be aware, the detection of and response to any criminal activity is an operational function for the Garda Commissioner, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters. 

The table below, which has been provided to me by the Garda authorities, sets out the number of arrests which occurred during the period 2016 to date in 2021 under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act 1996 (as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1984). 

Count of Arrests

I am advised by the Garda authorities that this incident data is based upon operational data from the PULSE system, as of 22 November 2021, and is liable to change.