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

I thank the Chairman and members for agreeing to change the time of the meeting to accommodate my attendance at a debate in the Seanad. I am grateful to the committee for making time available today to consider my request for a Supplementary Estimate for the Garda Síochána and prisons Votes. The Supplementary Estimate requirement in respect of the Garda Vote is €35.2 million and €6.297 million in respect of the prisons Vote. The additional requirements will be offset in part by surrender balances of some €8 million in respect of the other Votes in the Justice group.

The Supplementary Estimate requirement in respect of the Garda Síochána Vote is mainly due to additional payroll costs of approximately €33.8 million. The costs in question arise for a number of reasons and include the payment of allowances and overtime for the final roster period ending in December prior to year end. In previous years this would have been paid on the first pay days of the new financial year. The earlier roster end date facilitates the making of the payment within the financial year in which the duty is performed. In addition, the Supplementary Estimate also provides for other payroll costs, including overtime, which arose during the course of the year.

The additional requirement includes the costs related to anti-crime and anti-burglary measures, including the recently announced Operation Thor which builds on a dedicated Garda operation and has five elements to it. Measures being taken include the provision of extra high visibility patrols in identified burglary hot spots, increased use of checkpoints to tackle the criminal gangs which use the national road network, the use of new high powered vehicles by the armed regional response units as they come on stream, efforts to disrupt the stolen goods market, programmes to help reduce reoffending by prolific criminals; a high profile national crime prevention awareness campaign and the provision of targeted crime prevention advice for local communities.

A central aspect of the Supplementary Estimate is the utilisation of an underspend in 2015 in one area of the Vote to meet other capital requirements. This includes further investment in the Garda transport fleet and ICT investment. The total provision in the capital building subhead in 2015 is €42 million. Work has commenced on the construction of the three new Garda divisional headquarters in Galway, Kevin Street in Dublin and Wexford and it is projected by the Office of Public Works that approximately €10 million will be spent in the current year. An unspent amount of more than €6.6 million will be carried over in line with the relevant capital provisions to increase the 2016 budget to meet expenditure on these ongoing projects. Expenditure will be required to continue them next year and there is substantial provision in this regard.

That leaves a balance of more than €25 million which is being used to fund other capital requirements in 2015, including €17 million for ICT, €6 million for Garda transport and €1.8 million for upgrading the Garda surveillance aircraft. The additional allocation of €6 million for Garda transport means that we will have invested more than €34 million in new vehicles since 2012. In addition, a further €48 million is committed for investment in the Garda fleet under the Government's capital programme. These provisions mean vehicles can be routinely replaced as they reach the end of their normal lifespan.

An Garda Síochána has been able to accelerate certain elements of its ICT management programme. Yesterday I announced that additional capital funding of €4 million would be provided in 2016 for the Garda Vote to allow Ireland to participate in the Schengen information system, SIS II, a centralised secure database used by European countries for maintaining information and alerts related to border security and law enforcement. It is important that we align ourselves with this important source of live data. The United Kingdom, for instance, has been using it since last April. While An Garda Síochána already makes full use of the range of available information-sharing methods, including via its close links with Interpol and Europol, the SIS will provide an even more efficient way of sharing information in this important area. The expenditure we are seeking for this purpose complements An Garda Síochána's new reform programme.

Turning to the prisons Vote, the Supplementary Estimate of €6.297 million in this area mainly arises from additional payroll costs of €5 million and €1 million in respect of the capital building programme. The additional costs present because the number of serving prison staff is higher than the target number under the employment control framework, ECF, on which the original provision was based. They also include the payment of arrears relating to the reinstatement of a payroll allowance following the outcome of an arbitration hearing. The provision of an additional €6.4 million under the prisons Vote in 2016 will address any remaining shortfall in payroll costs and allow for the filling of a number of key posts.

There are several positive developments to report in regard to the refurbishment of the prisons stock. As members will be familiar with the ongoing work being done at Mountjoy Prison, I will not go into the details. It is planned to demolish part of Limerick Prison. The replacement of this cell space will involve a significant redevelopment project, to include a 150-cell accommodation block for male prisoners and a stand-alone female accommodation block for 58 prisoners. The additional capital expenditure requirement in the Supplementary Estimate arises, for the most part, from the requirement to carry out preliminary works on the Limerick Prison development project at an earlier date than originally planned.

I will comment briefly on the review of performance measures that has been ongoing in recent months. I reviewed the information included in the mid-term review which was submitted to the committee in July and the output of some of the subsequent engagement at official level. Several points struck me arising from this process. First, while I fully appreciate the objective of the exercise, undertaking a meaningful review of three years worth of data in a relatively short period was an ambitious exercise, to say the least. In the case of the Justice group, across all Votes, there was a total of 180 performance measures and key outputs. It is worthwhile to take a close look at the value of the performance-related measures published to date. I am aware that the OECD is in the process of completing a review of budget oversight by parliament.

We will have an interesting discussion when that is published. It is a complex task to develop the right balance of meaningful performance outputs, quantitative and qualitative. We do not want undue complexity or for it to be administratively burdensome, but we want a system that works and produces benefits and where the information is strong. There is room for improvement. We can all work together on this. It should facilitate our work as policy makers and the oversight role of Oireachtas Members and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as the Department with responsibility for the Estimates and the Votes. I recommend these supplementary estimates for the Garda Síochána and propose them to the committee. I am happy to answer questions on them.