162. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Justice the number of gardaí in County Wicklow in a dedicated drug unit; and the stations in the county in which they are located in each of the years 2017 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33152/22]

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will appreciate, in accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána. The allocation of Garda resources is made in light of identified operational demands. This includes decisions on the deployment of personnel among the various Garda Divisions. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.

I am assured, however, that Garda management keeps this distribution of resources under continual review in the context of policing priorities and crime trends, to ensure their optimum use. I understand that it is a matter for the Divisional Chief Superintendent to determine the optimum distribution of duties among the personnel available to them, having regard to the profile of each area within the Division and its specific needs.

The table below, provided to me by the Garda authorities, shows the number of Gardaí attached to the Wicklow Division Drugs Unit at end December 2017 to end December 2021, and at 31 May 2022, the latest date for which figures are available. For operational reasons, the Garda stations where these members are assigned is unavailable.

In the interest of transparency, a detailed breakdown of Garda numbers is available on my Department’s website. This information is updated every month with the latest data provided by An Garda Síochána. Information on the Garda workforce, Garda staff and other Garda statistics are available from the following link:

www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Garda_Workforce.

Question No. 163 answered with Question No. 160.