Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister for Justice and Equality

9:00 am

Photo of Jack ChambersJack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My first question relates to the Policing Authority. Ms Josephine Feehily was before the committee last week, as the Minister is aware, and she outlined the collaborative co-operation ongoing between her authority and An Garda Síochána. Does the Minister believe it is appropriate that the Policing Authority is engaging in workshops and an active collaboration with An Garda Síochána in the creation of the policing plan when it is also the body that provides oversight and monitoring An Garda Síochána? With regard to their autonomy, is it appropriate for both organisations to have a cloud over them in terms of the creation of the policing plan? That is a core issue of governance. There are only 13 staff in the Policing Authority. The chair of the Policing Authority did not outline to me the Chinese walls that exist within that authority to ensure that the people who are monitoring, reviewing and providing the oversight are not also guiding the Garda in its policing plan. As the authority is established and progressed, it is important we ensure that proper governance mechanisms are in place so that we have that system of oversight.

My second question relates to the current Garda dispute. There are significant morale issues in An Garda Síochána, and the Garda Representative Association, GRA, and others have outlined that to the Minister. What does she expect to occur in that regard, and how does she hope the dispute will be resolved? With new and probationary gardaí on disgraceful starting salaries, it is fundamental that the Minister acts there is hope for new gardaí as they enter the force.

My third question relates to automatic number plate recognition, ANPR, technology. Investment in that technology has been stagnant over the past two or three years. In 2014, 116 cars were fitted with ANPR, and about 100 so far this year. That is a fundamental technological tool and it is important there is further investment in it. I hope the Minister will incorporate that in her budgetary Estimates.

My next question relates to a debate I had with the Minister last week. I welcome the €40 million additional investment this year because of the current issues in our city. Currently, there is a temporary presence there but in terms of the Minister's own initiative, I ask her to ensure there is a permanent replacement of community gardaí, whose numbers have been haemorrhaging in recent years. That is a priority, and we must get an assurance on that.

My final question reiterates an issue Deputy Wallace mentioned. In her initial contribution, the Minister praised the gardaí and said that the number of burglaries are down by 36%. I agree the gardaí are doing good work, but the Minister cannot welcome a statistically significant change on one level and then say that the other statistically significant change the CSO mentioned is being addressed. The CSO outlined that 17% of calls and dispatches were not recorded on the PULSE database, and that the 50% of detections by An Garda Síochána is closer to 40%. It is important to qualify any remarks about statistically significant change with what the CSO and the Garda Inspectorate has stated so that we do address the serious matter of statistics. We cannot welcome change on one level because it is a positive news story for the Minister and her Department while on another level say the CSO statistics are being addressed. We do not know that until a number of years pass, and anyone who does basic statistics would tell the Minister that. We need to qualify any remarks about statistical changes. I have heard many anecdotal stories from people who have been burgled. They called the gardaí but did not have anyone call to their house. I doubt those crimes are being recorded. When they contact the gardaí, they are often asked if the burglar is still in the house and if they are not, nothing happens. There is no follow up. Who is to say that is not in the incorporation of statistics? Serious work needs to be done on that. We need to be careful with the way we massage and talk about crime statistics because what we heard from Government and the previous Minister in the past five years was that crime levels were dropping, that there were no issues with recruitment, and that we had a sufficient number of gardaí. We then saw a massive statistical change, which intensified recruitment. It is important that we qualify any remarks about statistics with what is reflected in the Garda Inspectorate report and by the CSO.

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