575. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Justice further to Parliamentary Question No. 515 of 7 March 2023, if he has received the necessary information from the Garda authorities to have this question answered. [14995/23] 

Simon Harris, Minister for Justice: The Deputy's original question from March sought an update on Garda Operation Pier, including the amount of drugs seized under Operation Pier; and the number of persons arrested and charged under this operation to date. 

Public safety is a key priority for me as Minister for Justice. An Garda Síochána is making important progress in tackling crime including through many Garda operations nationwide. 

I am advised by the Garda authorities that Operation Pier was originally established for the purpose of targeting anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in the Pearse Street Sub-District and was amalgamated with Operation Citizen in 2022. 

Operation Citizen is the overarching Garda response to ensure high visibility and a proactive response to anti-social behaviour and other crimes occurring in that area. The primary objective of An Garda Síochána remains to maximise public safety; to maintain core policing functions; to detect crime and preserve the peace and to promote confidence in An Garda Síochána. 

The members deployed on Operation Citizen are drawn from Store Street and Pearse Street Garda stations, thus utilising the members that are best placed to provide an effective policing service, bringing with them local knowledge and ownership of the objectives. These members have support from other uniformed and plain clothes (including armed) members available where additional assistance is required to respond to any particular issue or incident, should the need arise. 

The Garda authorities have informed me that they are unable to provide drug seizure values based on PULSE data. The official source for verified drug types, quantities and values is carried out after analysis by Forensic Science Ireland and published in their annual report. 

To be of assistance to the Deputy, a search of the PULSE database was conducted on for Prisoner Logs, Charges and Summons associated with Incidents with a reported date between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2022. The table below shows the number of arrests, charges and summons by year. These figures relate to all operational activity and not limited to one operation.

The figures are based on operational data from the PULSE system as of 6 March 2023 and are liable to change.