Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the average response times for callouts by the gardaí in each district within the Cork City division; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24736/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Garda authorities that statistics relating to Garda response times for call-outs in Cork city are not readily available as incidents referred to the Garda control room for Cork city are manually recorded. I have been advised by the Garda authorities that the highest importance is given to emergency calls in Cork city and that they are responded to on a priority basis. The Garda authorities have also informed me that the system for dealing with emergency calls in Cork city is kept under ongoing review and they are satisfied the current service is effective in delivering efficient arrangements to the community.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister's response raises two questions. Given the unavailability of response times, how can one judge whether they are sufficiently quick? If one does not record response times, how does one determine whether they are improving?

Last night, I attended a successful meeting of my local policing forum attended by approximately 180 people. I was struck by a comment by the superintendent of the Mayfield district of Cork, in which Cork Prison is located, that a considerable number of Garda resources in the district are used for the transport of prisoners to the courts. Is the Minister examining the transportation of prisoners with a view to freeing up Garda resources, especially given that Garda numbers are declining? Is the proposed civilianisation of aspects of policing an option for addressing this issue?

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Since my appointment as Minister for Justice and Equality no one has drawn my attention to there being major difficulties with regard to call-out times in Cork. In circumstances in which a manual system is still operating, there is a difficulty in accessing the information the Deputy is seeking. If such information were electronically maintained, it would and should be readily available.

The transport of prisoners is a major security issue. We cannot have untrained civilians driving prisoners to and from courts. On a regular basis prisoners coming from the prisons to the courts may be constrained in a particular way and there are particular difficulties. It is not unusual that the Garda is involved in the transport of prisoners. However, in the context of using members of the Garda Síochána to the best advantage to the benefit of the public and utilising the expert training they have received, I know the Garda Commissioner is examining all the various functions gardaí perform to see to what extent they may be civilian-based.

I certainly do not envisage untrained civilians driving prisoners to the courts or using handcuffs. That would be not only inappropriate but dangerous and it is not a policy I would favour.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is not what I was suggesting. I am suggesting that, when considering the roll-out of the civilianisation process, we give special attention to those Garda districts which contain prisons. We should consider freeing up as many gardaí as possible in order that we do not compromise either on the transport of prisoners or the service provided for communities in terms of response times. Can we focus on putting as many people as possible in administrative roles within the districts containing prisons?

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I generally support the idea of civilianising basic administrative functions, some of which are currently undertaken by members of An Garda Síochána, and the issue forms part of the review. As Minister for Justice and Equality, I have an obligation to reduce expenditure. We must be careful that as garda numbers decrease in line with our EU-IMF commitment, we do not spend almost as much recruiting large numbers of civilians to undertake administrative tasks. There is a balance to be maintained and operational decisions must be made by the Garda Commissioner. The Deputy can assume it is my view and that of the Government that gardaí should be placed as frequently as possible in positions in which they can utilise their training and provide the front-line policing services required. We should not have members of the Garda force unnecessarily working on administrative tasks in a back office if such tasks could well be undertaken by civilians.