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

It is very critical. We have seen with recent controversies, for example, that when they are identified one can put an IT solution in place. Of course, one would prefer if some of those IT solutions had been there beforehand because then the problem would not have arisen in some instances. It is one element of capturing things correctly, and it is very important. This area was hugely neglected and there is a huge amount of work to be done on it. It is very complex and it is central to the work of An Garda Síochána. That is the reason I made it a priority. I sought a very substantial budget of well over €200 million to ensure that the various issues that need to be on the IT system could be captured.

I emphasise again the issue of the international databases which we sign up to being available here. For example, we are behind on the Prüm Convention. The Schengen Information System II, SIS II, is absolutely critical in terms of data exchange across Europe, but we only started that towards the end of last year. We are spending significant funding of €20 million next year to ensure we are not in breach of European standards in regard to those. A big part of the challenge the Garda faces is to manage and develop these IT systems. In fact, I believe more civilian expertise is required as well, as opposed to assuming that gardaí can be trained up to the level of ICT sophistication that is needed in the force at present. Clearly, there are gardaí who are specialists in this area and have developed an expertise. We wish to use that on an ongoing basis as well. A considerable amount of external expertise is brought in as well to ensure the systems are effective.

The Garda Inspectorate made a series of recommendations about IT and there is a programme in place to follow those. I can give the committee some details on that.

When there are crises, such as there have recently been, a modernisation programme is often not spoken about but there is a wide-ranging ICT programme involving 23 initiatives, to be delivered over a five-year period. It cannot be delivered overnight. Some €330 million, including €205 million under the capital plan, is being invested in Garda ICT infrastructure between 2016 and 2021 and this will lead to cutting-edge technology to deal with criminals. There is a new investigations management system which will make sure the PULSE system contains the complete chain of events relating to an investigation and that we can manage the information gathered and decisions taken. We used only to have the recording of the crime as the investigation was not captured on the ICT system but that is now possible.

There is also a new property and exhibits management system to record all property and exhibits which come into Garda possession, so that the life cycle of a drugs seizure can now be captured on the ICT system. There is a new content management system and a single place for all documentation and multimedia content. In the area of victim services, PULSE is being updated to include individual victim assessment and engagement screens, which will record information about victims and any Garda interaction or engagement with them, in line with the new EU victims' directive. It also makes sure gardaí get back to victims.

The new system will also have the right information and, rather than depending on one individual Garda to have the information, it will now be up on the screen for someone who is off duty, meaning there will be continuity of service. There is also a new e-vetting system and a new rosters and duty management system, on which there is more work to be done. We need to be aware where gardaí are at different points and that we have real-time information about the deployment of gardaí and the inspectorate wants that to be prioritised.

A new anti-money laundering application will support financial intelligence units to counter terrorist financing and money laundering and an updated detection system will lead to a better security architecture that proactively identifies potential threats and will ensure that policies can be put in place accordingly. The passenger name record has to be updated and there are other systems but they could take an entire committee meeting on their own. They are a critical part of garda infrastructure, as is how they are managed to ensure gardaí keep up to date and have the expertise to required for complex systems. This and the last Government allocated over €300 million for this critical work.