Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have an opportunity to be here this morning. I thank the committee for making time available to consider the important Supplementary Estimate for the Garda Síochána Vote. A Supplementary Estimate of €44.2 million is required in respect of the Garda Vote in 2017. It is projected that there will be an underspend of at least €25.5 million in the remaining seven Votes in the Justice and Equality group. This will reduce the net additional Exchequer funding requirement to approximately €18.7 million.

An additional €50.4 million is being made available to meet payroll and overtime costs. The additional requirement in respect of pay and allowances is €8 million and the additional requirement in respect of overtime is €42.4 million. The increased overtime requirement relates directly to the measures taken to combat organised crime and other serious crime. The costs associated with the implementation of the Labour Court agreement on Garda pay are also a contributory factor. The partial offsetting of the additional requirement by underspends in other votes reflects the commitment given by the Department in meeting the partial cost of the Labour Court agreement for 2017. It is expected that total expenditure on Garda overtime in 2017 will exceed €130 million, which is unprecedented. This compares with overtime expenditure of €91 million in 2016, €56 million in 2015 and €37.7 million in 2014. Budget 2018 provides for almost €100 million in overtime next year. Overtime worked in December will be paid from the 2018 budget rather than the 2017 Estimate, which we are discussing this morning.

There are additional requirements in a number of other administrative subheads, including travel and subsistence, expenses associated with road traffic policing, training and other expenses, maintenance of Garda premises and certain other station services. These costs amount to almost €12 million when offsetting underspends in other areas such as telecommunications services are taken into consideration.  A further additional requirement of almost €2.7 million arises under the communications and other equipment subhead. This relates primarily to increased costs in respect of operational equipment, mainly in specialist areas such as the armed response units.

There are offsetting underspends in other areas within the Garda Vote, such as superannuation. The underspend in this area can be attributed to a smaller than expected number of retirements. In addition, there are surplus receipts of approximately €14 million. The largest proportion of these receipts, by far, relates to a greater than envisaged number of pension-related deductions as a direct result of increased expenditure on pay and overtime. This Supplementary Estimate will make these additional receipts available to offset a proportion of the overtime and payroll cost.

A further aspect of this process is the reallocation of an underspend of €8 million in capital expenditure from the buildings subhead. Some €6.7 million is being reallocated to the area of information and communications technology, ICT, and a further €1.3 million is being reallocated to the transport area. The underspend relates to the timing of the completion of new Garda divisional and regional headquarters in the Kevin Street area of Dublin and in Galway. These buildings will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2018, following the completion of the new divisional headquarters in Wexford in September of this year. The additional budget allocated to ICT will ensure a total capital spend of over €40 million in this area in 2017, including expenditure on a number of key systems such as rosters and duty management, investigations management and enterprise content management. These projects are key components of the Garda Síochána modernisation and renewal programme.

The additional €1.3 million for transport will bring expenditure on the Garda fleet to over €5 million in 2017. This follows expenditure of €10 million in 2016, which allowed for the purchase of 462 vehicles. I am pleased to say the Government's capital plan for the period from 2018 to 2021 provides for a further €31 million for direct investment in the Garda fleet. The additional amounts made available to ICT and transport in 2017 are bringing expenditure in these areas forward, in effect, with the corresponding budget being reassigned in 2018 to complete the building projects. The utilisation of the capital budget in this manner ensures prudent use of available resources on a multi–year basis.

The Government is committed to ensuring a strong and visible police presence throughout the country to maintain and strengthen community engagement, provide reassurance to citizens and deter crime.  The substantial increase in Garda numbers is a demonstration of tangible progress in achieving the Government's vision of an overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel by 2021, comprising 15,000 Garda members, 2,000 Garda Reserve members and 4,000 civilians working in An Garda Síochána. This continued high level of investment in the Garda workforce will ensure the vision of an overall workforce of 21,000 by 2021 remains on track. A further 800 new Garda recruits will enter the Garda College in 2018. An additional 500 civilians will be recruited to fill critical skills gaps across the organisation and facilitate the redeployment of gardaí from administrative and technical duties to front-line operational duties.

I am pleased to say this investment is yielding results in a number of successful Garda operations, such as Operation Hybrid, which will continue apace throughout 2018. As of 31 October last, 71 arrests and 11 charges - three for related offences - have been brought in connection with gangland-related shootings. In addition, 30 firearms have been seized and over 14,260 lines of inquiry have been conducted.

In the region of 44,500 high-visibility checkpoints have been implemented with significant support from the armed support units. A significant amount of closed-circuit television footage, mobile phone traffic and forensic evidence is being examined.

Concentrated Garda actions against criminal gangs have been illustrated by a number of notable successes this year, with a series of very significant drug seizures, valued at over €79.5 million. This includes the huge haul of illegal cannabis valued at €37.5 million seized at Dublin Port in January this year and, more recently, a significant seizure on 15 November valued at €7 million. Rural communities are also benefitting from the significant injection of policing resources provided by the Government and the concentrated initiatives, such as Operation Thor. As part of the Garda approach, special targeted patrols are carried out with the assistance of the Garda national support services against criminals committing crime inter-regionally, including a focus on the use of the motorway network by criminal gangs, to disrupt and arrest those involved. These initiatives have provided a most beneficial return in the Government's investment in resources and we will continue to back that up by strengthening the necessary legislative provisions where required to ensure the multifaceted response to crime in all its forms is maintained.

The underspends across the other seven Votes in the justice group has reduced the net additional Exchequer requirement for the Supplementary Estimate to approximately €18.7 million. The savings mainly arise in the Justice and Equality Vote, largely accounted for by payroll savings. The full-year cost of additional recruitment during 2017 will not materialise until 2018. There are underspends in a number of programme areas, including the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS. I recommend this Supplementary Estimate for the Garda Síochána Vote to the committee and I am happy to address queries that members may have.