The Garda fleet consists of roughly over 2,000 vehicles throughout the country and is co-ordinated by the Transport Section at Garda Headquarters in the Pheoinix Park, Dublin. The types of vehicles used by the Gardá can be broken down as follows:
A civilian Fleet Manager working alongside a Superintendent head up the Transport Section. They in turn report to the Chief Superintendent in charge of Support Services.
Effective use of the Fleet Management Computer System greatly assists the day to day management of the fleet, which achieves a mileage of almost 50 million miles per year. To further maximise efficiency, a chargecard system is used for fuel purchaes by Gardai throughout the country. This ensures that up to date information on vehicle/ fuel usage is readily available for management purposes. Considerable savings on fuel costs have resulted since the introduction of this system.
The Garda fleet not only includes the regular patrol vehicles used for routine operations, but also the 'Ministerial' cars used principally by members of the Government and the President. A small transport unit based at the Garda Headquarters is used for general purpose duties such as escorts to and from Courts and personnel deployment at major events. This unit has recently increased the number of civilian drivers allowing existing Garda personnel at the Section to return to core policing duties. Each Station throughout the Dublin Metropolitan Area will have two or three of the below vehicles at their districts disposal along with a small number of unmarked Task Force cars and District Detective Unit vehicles.