The Policing Authority has today published Policing Priorities for the Garda Síochána 2022-2024. These priorities establish what the Authority wants the Garda Síochána to give the most attention to in any given period. They assist the Garda Commissioner in identifying areas that require extra focus and/or investment of resources, to improve the service delivered to the public and the enhancement of the Garda organisation. 

The Policing Priorities 2022-2024 are:

• Protecting and Supporting Victims and the Vulnerable: To deliver a policing service to victims of sexual crime, domestic abuse, and coercive control that is victim-centred, trauma-informed, effective in preventing and detecting these crimes, vindicates human rights, and trusted by victims.
• Supporting and Ensuring Community Safety: To understand and respond to anti-social behaviour, crime, and associated quality of life issues for communities. To address these in conjunction with its partners in a way that prevents crime, reduces fear, and results in a better quality of life for communities.
• Tackling Organised and Serious Crime: To prevent and disrupt the activities of organised criminals, including those of international networks, engaged in national and transnational crime and reduce their impact on communities.
• Rights Based and Ethical Service Delivery: To deliver a policing service in a manner that ensures that all those who come into contact with the Garda Síochána are dealt with in a way that: understands, respects and embodies diversity; vindicates and protects their human rights; is consistent with the Code of Ethics; and, is centred on the Garda Decision Making Model.
• Development of the Capacity to Strategically Manage Garda Resources: To ensure that resources – finance, ICT, and capital assets – are appropriately and strategically managed and deployed to support Garda Members, Garda Staff, and Garda Reserves. To ensure that this workforce is appropriately trained, skilled, managed, and supported to provide a service that responds to the crime environment and needs of the public.

Policing Authority Chief Executive, Helen Hall, commented on the publication of the Policing Priorities:

“The determination of Policing Priorities for the Garda Síochána is an important statutory function of the Policing Authority. The fact that they are developed externally to the Garda Síochána provides an opportunity to listen to the community, and to reflect their views and concerns in the Policing Priorities. Our interactive and accessible Public Consultation, along with our ongoing programme of stakeholder engagement, meant that the voice of the community was heard during this significant process”.

In May 2021, the Policing Authority carried out a large-scale, interactive Public Consultation on Policing Priorities. The online consultation received almost 3,500 responses, from a robust sample of the population which included responses from every county in Ireland, across cities, towns and rural areas.

The results of the Public Consultation on Policing Priorities showed that Sexual Offences and Child Sexual Abuse was the top priority for all genders, age groups, urban/rural background, and Garda region, with similarly high prioritisation of Domestic Abuse. Increased Garda Visibility and tackling Anti-Social Behaviour were also common themes across all demographics. These areas, and many others identified by the Public Consultation, have been included in the Policing Priorities for 2022-2024.

The Public Consultation was one step in the process of developing the Policing Priorities 2022-2024, which also included research into priorities in other jurisdictions, and consultation with the Garda Síochána.

The Authority has set these priorities for the duration of the Garda Strategy Statement period 2022-2024, but they will be subject to annual review.

The Garda Síochána has today published its Strategy Statement 2022-2024 and the Policing Plan 2022. The Strategy Statement sets out what the Garda Síochána aims to achieve in the provision of a policing service for the public over the next three years. The Policing Plan sets out, on a yearly basis, the Garda Síochána’s commitments to the community. The Strategy Statement and Policing Plan are both developed by the Garda Síochána and approved by the Policing Authority, with the consent of the Minister. These important documents set out for the public how the Garda Síochána will achieve the Policing Priorities, and their mission of keeping people safe.

The Policing Priorities 2022-2024, the Garda Síochána Strategy Statement 2022-2024 and the Policing Plan 2022 were all laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas this morning.