EU Presidency Dail Éireann — 2026-07-01 ============================================================ Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South Today is an important day for Ireland. It is the first day of the EU Presidency. It is an important function for Ireland. We want to do it well. As I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, it is a big security challenge for An Garda Síochána. Today, the President of Ukraine was here. A huge amount of security was required for his arrival. The Deputy will permit me to take the time to commend the Commissioner and An Garda Síochána on their work today. It is challenging when a figure with as high a profile as President Zelenskyy arrives. At present, the Garda fleet is the largest it has ever been. There are 3,680 vehicles distributed throughout Garda divisions and specialist units. However, in the months leading up to the Presidency, An Garda Síochána scaled up its overall fleet capacity. We have moved up fleet capacity for the purpose of the Presidency. It is not as though the fleet is being dispersed because of the Presidency. The scaling up has been the addition of 78 cars, 75 motorcycles and 12 mini-buses. With respect to vehicles assigned to the Deputy's region, 125 vehicles are currently assigned and available to DMR west. This allocation has increased in recent years, as only 101 vehicles were assigned to the division in 2021. At the end of May, there were 772 gardaí assigned to DMR west. Some 75 probationers have been assigned from the two attestations held this year. That is the most for any division in the country. If other Deputies were in that position, they would be very happy, because, as the Deputy will be aware, most of the time when people ask me about Garda probationers, they are looking for them. Some 75 have gone this year to DMR west and a further attestation is coming later in July. These gardaí are supported by other national specialist units and by the 63 Garda staff assigned to the division. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-01