Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I hope that by the time I have finished my speech we will have scored at least one goal. It is somewhat difficult to disconnect and be in the Chamber when one wants to be in front of a television.

This is more like a Second Stage debate. It is unsatisfactory, and I am sure the Minister feels the same. We will all touch on various issues. The Estimates primarily deal with funding for the Garda, the courts, the Valuation Office, the National Property Services Regulatory Authority and so on. There is very little difference between 2015 and 2016 in the justice Estimates. In fact, on the salaries side the figure has decreased slightly. Pay rates were mentioned frequently during the general election with regard to gardaí, teachers and nurses. New entrants are being paid a different rate, something that is found by many to be very offensive, a view I share.

The fact that the intake into Templemore was postponed for several years means that people who really wanted to be gardaí postponed their applications. Those recruited were not always those at the very early part of their career. Rather, an older cohort are applying to join the Garda. Sometimes they may have mortgages or other family commitments. We have to understand that not all circumstances are the same. Differences in pay rates have to be addressed.

I refer to the very ad hocmethod that appears to be in place in terms of the number of gardaí employed in any one division. I look at the policing plan every year. I constantly say that many aspects of it are a cut-and-paste job. It is refreshing that the new Policing Authority will have a real focus on that, because demographics and crime rates matter. I constantly update a document on where gardaí are deployed. Kildare is the worst, followed by Meath, Wexford, Laois and Offaly. The areas that have been subject to the greatest population growth are those that have the lowest ratio of gardaí.

It does not appear that a strategic approach to policing is in place. This approach produces a reactive rather than proactive type of policing. Certain types of crime are not detected by virtue of the fact that they require proactive actions. Drugs offences, and sometimes motoring offences, would fall into that category. It is to be hoped that the initiative of the Policing Authority in terms of examining policing plans will help to deal with that issue.

I do not see a great deal of change in the budget. Perhaps we do not need change in terms of the amount of money that is spent; perhaps, instead, it should be spent differently. On the doorsteps on several occasions members of the force were quite critical of some of the equipment that was bought and said it would not provide them with the opportunity to do their job properly. There is no doubt that there will be some investment in IT systems, which is needed. We cannot have smart policing if we do not have the technology to implement it.

In my area there are some opportunity costs in terms of the low level of gardaí. I jokingly say that if the national average in terms of policing was as it is in Kildare, 4,800 members of An Garda Síochána could be dismissed. That is how bad the situation there is. I make that point in order to exaggerate so that the situation is understood. It is not acceptable. The opportunity cost means that, for example, there is no community policing in an area with a population of 210,000 people. The county of Kildare has quadrupled in population since 1971, something no other county has experienced.

I refer to the amalgamation of bodies such as Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Land Registry and the National Property Services Regulatory Authority. The latter did some very fine work. The Valuation Office could do with a little acceleration. I understand only four counties have been digitised. Revaluation has been an ongoing process since, I understand, the mid-2000s. Given that well over €1 billion was brought in in commercial rates - it is probably €1.25 billion - it is important that we accelerate the digitisation process. Some records are historical.

I was intrigued to see that Land Registry fees are foregone in the case of bodies such as NAMA. If there are full recovery costs, would it not be better to build them into the process when something is being sold? We are selling assets to very large vulture funds, something of which I am very critical.

The very fact that the State is forgoing land registry fees as well is perhaps not understood or factored into the cost. I am interested in hearing a response from the Minister in that regard because if we could bring in money in another way it would be useful.

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