231. Deputy Alan Shatter asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of new patrol cars made available to members of An Garda Síochána undertaking policing within the south Dublin constituency, in the period March 2011 to date in 2015; and the total number of patrol cars attached to each of the relevant Garda stations, as of this date, as compared to those so attached in 2010. [19289/15]

Decisions in relation to the provision and allocation of Garda vehicles are a matter for the Garda Commissioner in the light of her identified operational demands and the availability of resources. Responsibility for the efficient deployment of Garda vehicles in each Division is assigned to the Divisional Officer, who may allocate vehicles between stations, as required by operational circumstances. The Deputy will appreciate that a degree of flexibility in allocating and re-allocating vehicles among stations, so as to best match the allocation of resources with policing priorities, is essential to the efficient management of the Garda fleet.

In that context, I am advised by the Garda authorities that the information in the format, as requested by the Deputy, in relation to a breakdown of the fleet by electoral constituency, is not readily available and would require a disproportionate use of Garda time and effort to extract the relevant information and cannot be justified at this time.

I have however been informed by the Garda authorities that the number of new vehicles allocated within the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) in the period concerned is as set out in the table.

New allocations DMR (March 2011 - May 2015)

Comparison of vehicles allocated to the DMR in 2010 and 2015.

DMR REGION 2010

DMR REGION AS AT MAY 2015

The Deputy will be aware that I recently secured a further €10 million for investment in the Garda fleet of which €7 million was made available in 2014. This funding brings the total investment in the Garda fleet in 2014 to €11 million. The remaining €3 million is being made available for the purchase and fit out of additional Garda vehicles in 2015.

In October, 2014, an order was placed for 370 new vehicles. These vehicles were delivered towards the end of 2014, and following fit out, are being allocated in accordance with the Garda Commissioner's operational requirements.