Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. It is amazing how far we have come, as a nation. I thank Deputy Rabbitte for the compliments he paid. At least, we did something right. In the new year, constituents from my home town who have business to transact in the Criminal Courts of Justice complex can travel by train or on what I call the "we squandered the boom" motorway from Dundalk to Dublin. They can enter the "we squandered the boom" port tunnel, park their cars and take the "we squandered the boom Luas" to the Criminal Court complex. We did something right in recent years. To be fair to every Deputy, we all agree that any modern society should have those items of infrastructure.

The courts complex is magnificent. I visited it with the Chief Justice a number of months ago when it was still a building site. It is a compliment to everyone who designed it and had an input because it has been painstakingly designed in such a way as to ensure that those who should be kept separate are. The facilities are second to none. I am reluctant to use the word "iconic", but it is an iconic building that will stand the test of time, mirroring what was done a number of centuries ago in the form of the magnificent Four Courts building.

When the new complex is up and running, the District Court operation of the Courts Service will move there from the Bridewell court in the second week of December, with the operations for the Circuit, Criminal and other courts to follow from the beginning of the new legal term in January.

A number of Deputies raised the issue of civilianisation. There is no doubt that the effort to civilianise much of the work of the Garda has been progressing. Previously, there was only one civilian per ten gardaí, but that figure is now one per seven or six, which is as it should be. I agree with the Deputies who exhort us to continue pressuring the release of further gardaí for other duties. From an operational point of view, however, the Garda must determine what type of person is necessary, be it a garda or civilian, to do particular office work. It is the intention that as much of the work that can be done by civilians should be done by them, but there are circumstances in which gardaí must do paperwork. It is not always appreciated that gardaí on the beat have a telephone system whereby they can telephone a call centre in Castlebar on a dedicated line to communicate issues. They do not need to return to a Garda station and type up the issues that were subject to complaint. Many streamlining changes have been made.

Some Deputies referred to the changes in the fixed penalty charges, etc. In line with previous efforts, we are changing this legislation to free up gardaí, leading to a saving in Garda time if not prison officer time. We are seeking a more efficient use of different personnel and to free gardaí from certain duties as much as possible.

Deputies have mentioned the matter of family law, in respect of which a Bill is being prepared. Regarding physical accommodation, the Dolphin House courtrooms will be freed up to concentrate entirely on family law cases. In effect, it will become Dublin's family law complex.

The ink on the McCarthy report was hardly dry when every Deputy, particularly those on the Government side, got representations from rural transport schemes, community development projects and family support agencies and centres, all of which the Government established, as people must appreciate. Despite the fact that we have been accused of squandering the boom, when I became Minister for Social Welfare in 1997, one of our promises was to increase community development projects from 25 to 100, which we succeeded in doing in a short time. Today, there are more than 180 community development projects-----

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