Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for affording me an opportunity to update the House on the use of modern technology by the Garda Síochána, in particular the PULSE system. I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern.

PULSE is the primary Garda operational IT system supporting operational members doing their day-to-day policing tasks and is now available on more than 2,000 personal computers in 342 Garda locations nationwide, including all divisional and district headquarters. Decisions to extend the PULSE system to other locations takes into account factors such as the volume of business, the amount of Garda time spent at the station and, of course, the investment cost in the installation and ongoing maintenance of the system. It was never the intention of the Garda authorities to provide PULSE in every single Garda location and requirements are kept under constant review. Additional Garda stations are added to the network on a case-by-case basis. That said, with the current level of coverage, approximately 85% of incidents originate from locations where PULSE is available, which is indicative of the real level of coverage.

With regard to the availability of the PULSE system in the Garda College in Templemore, I am informed by the Garda authorities that in addition to access to the PULSE system itself, a PULSE training database for educational purposes is in use in a dedicated facility in the Garda College and in other training facilities at other locations nationwide.

A number of major initiatives have taken place in recent years that have resulted in the further release of Garda resources for operational duties. The Garda information services centre, GISC, which is based in Castlebar, provides a service whereby gardaí who would otherwise need to return to the nearest station to input or update incident data, now do so over the telephone via civilian staff at the centre. Approximately 13,000 calls per week are handled by the centre thus releasing Garda resources for visible, front-line policing across our communities. Quality control and review of data are also managed by dedicated civilian staff at the GISC, thereby relieving sergeants of this administrative task and allowing further deployment for more operational duties.

The functionality of the PULSE system is continually upgraded and enhanced to accommodate new business requirements, policies and procedures as well as updates to reflect new legislation. In November last year a new release of PULSE was deployed. A key aspect of this release provides for electronic integration with the Courts Service whereby applications for summonses by the Garda are electronically routed to the courts criminal case tracking system, which will in return issue the summons and electronically notify the Garda through PULSE of the court date and outcome of the case in due course. This has led to direct efficiency savings for both organisations and increased Garda visibility through minimising court-related administrative work.

Further enhancements to PULSE functionality are scheduled for this year including supports for missing persons inquiries, a system to support the operation of the sex offenders register and support for firearms registration and licensing. PULSE has also been integrated with other niche systems such as the automated fingerprint identification system thereby providing access to more specialised data through a single point of entry. The Garda PULSE system is not only core to the work of every garda but will continue to be a vital tool in the detection and recording of crime in the future.

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