Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 8: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the period of time in which Operation Anvil has been in existence; the cost to date; the number of overtime hours worked by gardaí; if he proposes to extend the programme and if so, for what period and on what terms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29760/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Operation Anvil commenced in the Dublin metropolitan region on 17 May 2005. The primary focus of this intelligence-driven operation is the targeting of active criminals and their associates involved in serious crime by preventing and disrupting their activities through additional overt patrolling and static checkpoints and by uniform mobile and foot patrols supported by armed plain clothes gardaí. The Garda authorities inform me that the cost of Operation Anvil up to 30 September 2005 was €4,029,344, and the number of overtime hours paid to that date was 111,235.

As with all Garda initiatives introduced in response to circumstances at a particular time, the Commissioner keeps the project under constant review in the context of the purpose for which it was introduced. Operation Anvil is ongoing and the necessary resources continue to be made available to ensure that the Garda can succeed in this initiative.

While the provisional quarterly headline crime statistics, which I released last week, show that the number of offences for the year ending in September decreased by 0.2%, I have already expressed my concern and disappointment at the increase of 0.4% in the figures for the first three quarters of the year and of 5.5% in the figures for the third quarter. The figures for firearms offences in particular show the continuing need for Operation Anvil. I am encouraged by the fact that the number of detections of possession of firearms has shown a marked increase since the second quarter, during which Operation Anvil was introduced. While Operation Anvil is proving very successful, is just one part of a multifaceted strategy to deal with the problems it seeks to address.

I take great satisfaction in the Government's decision last October to approve my proposal for the recruitment of 2,000 additional gardaí to increase the strength of the force to 14,000.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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That is the 25th time it has been announced. The Minister should set it to music.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I have already promised that the additional gardaí will not be put on administrative duties but will be put directly into frontline, operational, high-visibility policing such as Operation Anvil. The Commissioner is committed to that policy.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The Garda Síochána is now better resourced than at any time in its history. The Garda budget is now at an historical high of more than €1.1 billion, representing an increase of 85% in the provision since 1997 when the provision stood at just €600 million.

In addition to operational initiatives such as these, I am proposing a comprehensive package of anti-crime measures in the Criminal Justice Bill 2004, which is on Second Stage in the House. These measures will enhance the powers of gardaí in the investigation and prosecution of offences. The Bill contains an essential updating of our law to ensure that criminal offences can be investigated and prosecuted in a way which is efficient and fair and which meets the needs of modern society. It will also address such matters as the preservation of crime scenes, increased periods of detention in the case of arrestable offences, search warrant powers for the Garda Síochána, amendments to the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence) Act 1990, provision for fixed penalty procedures in respect of certain public order offences and the admissibility of statements by witnesses who subsequently refuse to testify or who retract their original statements.

The Bill also provides for the creation of criminal offences relating to organised crime, the strengthening of provisions on the imposition of the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence for drug trafficking, new offences of supplying drugs to prisoners, the creation of a drug offenders register, provisions to deal with anti-social behaviour and amendment of the Explosives Act 1875 to update fines and penalties and provisions relating to fireworks.

I am finalising proposals for the inclusion in the Bill of provisions which will introduce a significant strengthening of the law with respect to firearms. These will be amendments to the Firearms Acts 1925 to 2000 which will include, among other things, increased fines and penalties relating to offences generally under the Firearms Acts and the creation of mandatory minimum sentences of between five and ten years for certain firearms offences, including possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances, possession of a firearm with criminal intent, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, possession of a firearm while hijacking a vehicle and use or production of a firearm to resist arrest.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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In addition to Operation Anvil there was Operation Crossover which cost in the region of €4 million. With €6.5 million for Operation Anvil, that is an extra €10 million on top of the existing €80 million overtime in the budget for the Garda Síochána. Does the Minister not agree that running the Garda and formulating a strategy to deal with crime should not rely on overtime? He spent three years in an industrial dispute where he closed down a number of prisons to reduce overtime for the Prison Service. Now he is expanding overtime for the Garda.

Can I ask the Minister why he has not recruited the 2,000 gardaí that were promised three years ago? Why does he rely on overtime to do his policing when the Garda Commissioner cannot plan properly from one year to the next for how he will allocate his resources to ensure he can combat crime throughout the country at all times? Will he dispense with this sporadic, ad hoc response to crises as they arise?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I disagree with the Deputy on his fundamental premise that the use of overtime in policing is suspect and that it should all be done on basic pay. That is not the experience of any police force anywhere in the world. If we operated on the basis that police worked their own shift and no more without overtime-driven programmes, it would not produce the desired results. No police force of any significance operates on that basis. It is not wrong for resources to be made available to specific operations or particular areas.

I thank the Deputy for his kind reference to the fact that I have saved the taxpayer between €15 million and €25 million per annum on prison officers' overtime. That is an entirely different system and there is no reason a decent prison service should operate dependent on overtime.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The public cannot understand why if Operation Anvil was successful at a cost of €4 million, which is a tiny fraction of the Garda budget of approximately €1 billion——

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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It is €1.1 billion.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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If a miserable €4 million can produce such a result, why is there not a contingency fund of €10 million or €15 million each year for the Commissioner to carry out three or four operations similar to Operation Anvil and to work such operations into his plans? We will not get into the mythical 2,000 gardaí that were promised three years ago and have not been produced. Until they are produced, why is money not made available to the Commissioner to enable him to have a number of operations similar to Operation Anvil?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy will appreciate that every year provision is made for Garda overtime. The exact amount needed for overtime depends on circumstances. I do not set aside money specifically for overtime. When one runs a Department and a police force——

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Is it just a public relations exercise by the Minister?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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——with a budget of €1.1 billion, it is necessary to pay for individual operations from time to time and there is nothing unusual about that. Police forces all over the world do it and it would be very strange if they did not.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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There are phantom gardaí.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy referred again to the phantom 2,000 gardaí. I will invite Deputy Costello down to Templemore to see the phantoms marching in front of him. Who will look like a ghost then? The Deputy will be ghostly white when he sees the reality.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister should put that to music. I have been looking for them for the past three years.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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There are phantoms around Finglas and elsewhere.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The only phantom is Deputy Costello himself. The gardaí are very real, and they are flesh and blood.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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There are phantom gardaí everywhere.