Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to meet the committee as it considers the 2015 Revised Estimates for my Department's group of Votes, which were published in December. Before going into some of the detail of the Estimate provision across the six Votes which come under the Department of Justice and Equality, I want to make a number of headline points at the outset.

The gross Estimate provision for the justice Vote in 2015 is €2.313 billion, an increase of €50.9 million on the Estimates published on budget day in October. While the further increase includes provision for the cost of an additional pay day across the sector, in common with the public sector generally, I am particularly pleased that the increase also includes additional funding of €1.7 million for the Office of Data Protection Commissioner and €2.5 million in social disadvantage measures under dormant accounts funding.

The key point is that the gross allocation of €2.313 billion is an increase of over €129 million, or 6%, on the corresponding Revised Estimate allocation for 2014. The increase is even higher when compared to the original published expenditure ceiling of €2.122 billion for 2015. The increased funding is €191 million compared with this provision. Irrespective of the metrics used, I am pleased that the justice sector is starting the year in a stronger financial position than this time last year. Obviously, this is a direct consequence of the improved economic position that we find ourselves in.

Almost 64% of the entire justice Vote group gross allocation is provided to An Garda Síochána. The total gross expenditure allocation for the Garda Vote in 2015 is almost €1.469 billion. The pay and superannuation component amounts to 88% of the gross current expenditure allocation. The strength of the Garda force at 31 December 2014 was 12,799 members. As Deputies will be aware, there are currently an additional 300 student gardaí in training in Templemore. There are also 1,110 Garda Reserve members, with a further 46 in training. Essential support services in An Garda Síochána are provided now by over 2,000 civilian staff, which is quite a large figure compared to some years ago, and is in line with the civilianisation policy. I have had an opportunity to talk about this in the Dáil, so I will not go into too much detail here. I am pleased that we have 300 recruits in Templemore. The initial group will be coming out into the community in May of this year. That will be followed later in the year by the other two groups who are in training.

While the provision of personnel - both uniform members and civilian staff - is a significant factor in the Garda Síochána's ability to deliver on its expenditure programme while working with communities to protect and serve, there are other crucial funding areas within the Vote which require investment to support the work of the members of An Garda Síochána at all levels. Obviously, funding for the fleet is an important part of that. As Deputies will be familiar with this, I will not give too much detail on it except to say that we now have provided €27.5 million in the period from 2012 to 2015, which obviously includes the €10 million provided towards the end of last year, so that Garda cars can come on stream now, going into the new year. Obviously, that is quite a contrast with the situation when the economy was experiencing difficulties. In an earlier period - between 2009 and 2011 - only €4.8 million was provided. That, obviously, was a direct result of the economic situation at that time. As I said, it is the newly improved economic situation, although much work remains to be done, that has allowed us to make this much-needed investment in the fleet, which, in turn, should help in protecting communities. So many criminal gangs are mobile and are using the road transport network. Effectively, the Garda needs to have the kind of vehicles that are necessary in order to have that visible policing presence to deal with a range of issues.

It is clear from the Garda Inspectorate report that ICT needs to be a priority area, and €3 million extra was given for this. A much broader-based approach is needed in meeting the ICT needs of An Garda Síochána at this time. If Deputies would like more information on the structure I have in place in relation to the working group to identify the ICT needs of An Garda Síochána, I can certainly give that.

There is a new subhead in the Garda Vote in respect of a capital building programme. There are a number of projects, in conjunction with OPW, for the construction of three new Garda headquarters, in Kevin Street in Dublin city and in Galway and Wexford. It is expected that work will commence on the Kevin Street project shortly and tenders are currently being evaluated for the Galway project. The tender process for Wexford is also at an advanced stage. These will be built over the next three years, with additional capital funding to be provided in 2016 and 2017. These are vital investments.

As Deputies in this committee will be aware, this is a time of ongoing reform and change, and we are moving into an era in which there will be a central role for the new policing authority and the Garda Commissioner in implementing the reforms that have been identified. Clearly, the Garda Síochána has already started on some of those interim changes. Obviously, as the inspectorate report stated, short-, medium- and longer-term reforms are necessary.

I take this opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding work being carried out by many members of An Garda Síochána. Every time I talk about the work of the Garda Síochána I always say that 86 of them have lost their lives in protecting this country and our communities. Every day when they go out they face dangers, and we can never forget that.

There is much work going on in disrupting criminal gangs and human traffickers, and that is apparent through the work that is being done at present. The gardaí are getting on with the day-to-day work all the time, with an increasing focus on victims of crime in a year when we hope to bring in the EU victims directive.

There is a gross allocation of €373 million available to the justice and equality programme, and that is broken down into six separate programmes.

I set out briefly that the range of programmes covers secure Ireland, working for safe communities, organisations which facilitate the provision and administration of justice, the equality and integration area, representing Ireland's interests abroad and contributing to economic recovery. Programme A includes expenditure on GSOC, for which body an additional €1 million has been provided in respect of its expanded remit. That brings GSOC's budget to more than €9 million in 2015. Start-up funding of €500,000 for the new independent policing authority will provide for its establishment once the legislation is in place. We will have the legislation by Easter.

Programme B includes funding for the Probation Service, services for victims of crime and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, funds for which have been increased. Programme C provides funding for commissions and special inquiries. It also covers the marriage equality referendum, for which the sum of €1.5 million has been set aside. We have also allowed €500,000 for the start-up costs of the legal services regulatory authority.

The total funding available to the Department for the promotion of equality and integration is approximately €3.3 million, including €2.8 million for the youth justice service's community programmes. These programmes, as well as diversion programmes, will benefit from the increased funding from the dormant accounts fund which can now be used. We are hoping to develop a number of new youth diversion programmes nationally. They will be based on the needs of areas and population profiles and should make quite a difference.

Programme F covers property services and the Insolvency Service of Ireland, on which I will not delay. We discussed the service in the Dáil earlier today and I am happy to answers questions members might have.

The prison Vote this year is €326 million and the largest element of the allocation is for capital building works, for which €27.1 million is being provided in 2015, a great deal of which will go towards completing the new Cork Prison which is scheduled for completion in quarter 3 of 2015. The modernisation project in Mountjoy Prison is also on schedule. A number of other refurbishments are needed within the Irish Prison Service which I hope we will be in a position to address incrementally to ensure standards are at an appropriate level. This was a point made to us by the committee on torture when it visited Ireland.

The Vote for the Courts Service is being increased by €2 million in terms of current expenditure when compared with the allocation in 2014. The additional funding is to support the implementation of ongoing reforms in the courts, including the establishment and operation of the Court of Appeal. In addition, it was also possible to retain in 2015 a once-off capital allocation of €2 million which had been provided in 2014. This is additional capital funding which can be used in 2015 to complete work in respect of the Court of Appeal and facilitate further investment in courthouses and ICT systems in the Courts Service. Further ICT development is necessary to improve the efficiency of the Courts Service. The Court of Appeal sat for the first time on 5 November 2014 and is dealing with a great deal of work. There have been some inaccurate reports on the work of the court, which is making a difference to waiting lists. A good number of cases have been referred to it and dealt with and it is having an impact in terms of access to justice, which is extremely important.

A number of public private partnerships are being developed in the construction and refurbishment of seven courthouses in Letterkenny, Drogheda, Mullingar, Limerick city, Wexford town, Waterford city and Anglesea Street in Cork, on which construction will commence later this year. The Criminal Courts of Justice complex at Parkgate Street was provided using the public-private partnership mechanism.

The Property Registration Authority has a budget of €31.28 million and also comes under the Department. I published proposed changes in the authority in the heads and general scheme of the Tailte Éireann Bill. Tailte Éireann is a new organisation which will have responsibility for many important functions, including the State's property registration system, the State's mapping and surveying infrastructure, the State's property valuation service, the development and maintenance of the State's geospatial information, applications for the purchase of ground rents and ensuring the proper functioning of the Valuation Tribunal. Clearly, the three relevant organisations manage what is probably the most comprehensive set of property and spatial data in Ireland.

The sixth and final Vote in the justice group is the newly established Vote for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The organisation now has its own dedicated Vote of €6.3 million. The establishment of a stand-alone Vote reaffirms the independence of the new body which was formally established on 1 November 2014. The budget will help the organisation to get up and running and put in place the appropriate administrative and operational functions. We will continue to work with the commission and review and evaluate how the budget works for it. I have told it that we are open to reviewing the budget as the need arises.

The total Estimate for the justice sector in 2015 is more than €2.313 billion in gross terms and €2.066 billion in net terms. As I have set out, it covers six Votes across a broad range of areas within the justice and equality sector. The budget will be kept under review during the course of the year and any necessary reprioritisation of resources will take place as far as is practical as we progress through the year. I am happy to take questions on the budget.