Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin for his courtesy.

I do not wish to get into the area of "who said what" but it is on record that the Director of Public Prosecutions signalled that the 3% cut will create difficulties for him in terms of staffing and that there is a possibility he may have to ask gardaí to take cases that otherwise would be taken by his office.

Can the Taoiseach assure the House that no criminal case will be delayed as a result of shortage of funds and resources being made available to the DPP's office, or as a result of the DPP's office being short of staff? I appreciate there are difficulties in the public finances but there is also a serious crime problem in the country. We know that the conviction rate is very low, particularly for serious crimes. The last thing we want is a situation where crimes go unpunished or are not adequately prosecuted because of a shortage of staff available to the DPP. Neither do we want to have gardaí sitting around all day in a court room waiting for a case to come up when they might be deployed more usefully in detecting crime. That is what would result if more cases are to be handed back to the Garda for pursuance in the court.

We must have an assurance from the Taoiseach that no criminal case will be delayed, held up or handed back to the Garda because of shortage of staff or resources in the DPP's office.

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