Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of sniffer dogs on a Garda divisional basis; if there are plans to have a permanent dog in the north-west region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8905/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Garda Authorities that the Garda Dog Unit, which operates nationwide although based in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, has twenty-eight dogs broken down into the following specialist categories:

As part of the Unit above, a pilot scheme is already in place in the Southern Region with two Garda handlers and four dogs (two drug dogs and two general purpose dogs) allocated to Anglesea Street, Cork and Henry Street, Limerick.

The pilot scheme is currently being evaluated before any decisions will be taken with regard to further regionalisation of the service.

With regard to the number of dogs currently deployed by the Revenue Customs Service, I understand that 12 detector dog teams are in operation with the following breakdown per region:

Of these twelve detector dog teams, ten are used for drug detection, one is trained to detect tobacco and in response to enhanced powers given to the Revenue Customs Service in the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2005 a cash detector dog team has been deployed.

In addition to performing searches for the Revenue Customs Service, the detector dogs teams are also used in Garda drugs searches, on request. The Sligo-based detector dog team is regularly called out to assist the Gardaí in the North West region.