Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

94. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of outstanding warrants nationwide on PULSE; her views on this number of outstanding warrants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43959/14]

Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have been seeking information on the number of outstanding bench warrants as of 23 September 2014.

We tabled this as a parliamentary question and the Minister undertook to have the information collated by An Garda Síochána and referred back to us. To date, we still have not received the information so we have tabled the question again as a priority because the issue is of major public importance.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am advised that, at the end of the second quarter of this year, there were in the order of 113,500 outstanding warrants on PULSE. This figure had reduced from a level of approximately 122,000 at the start of the year. I am further advised that an inspector in each Garda district in the Dublin metropolitan region and in each division outside the region is tasked with managing the execution of warrants and other issues relating to them. In addition, specific members of the force are tasked with their execution and there is ongoing liaison with the Prison Service and the Courts Service, as well as with other State agencies on these matters.

Genuine difficulties can arise where it does not prove possible to enforce a warrant and it is important that systems are in place to ensure that warrants are enforced as quickly as possible. In this regard, I have been assured that An Garda Síochána gives priority to the execution of warrants in respect of serious crime and will continue to do so. I am conscious that difficulties in the execution of warrants have been a matter of concern over many years. It is also true that this is a longstanding difficulty for many police forces around the world. I welcome the analysis provided by the Garda Síochána Inspectorate on warrants in the recent crime investigation report.

The inspectorate report, as the Deputy has seen, acknowledges the difficulties often faced by gardaí in pursuing the execution of warrants but it also points to significant deficiencies in the current systems in this area and makes a number of short, medium and longer term recommendations in the report. Some of the difficulties are very much tied to the technology, which must be addressed. I am working with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to secure the necessary and early investment in upgrading Garda technology. It is extremely important.

Highlighted in the report is the number of warrants generated as a result of non-payment of fines and in circumstances where imprisonment was over time the only option available to the court. Under the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014, alternatives to imprisonment are now provided for, and the aim is to reduce significantly the number of persons committed for non-payment. That should also reduce the number of warrants which the force is obliged to enforce.

Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The information which the Minister has provided points to a continuing major dysfunction in the execution of bench warrants, particularly as such warrants are the bread and butter upon which the criminal justice system works when judges are ordering people to appear before them or in committing people to prison. If that plank of our criminal justice system is breaking down to the degree described, the figures must serve as a wake-up call to the Minister and her Government. In July 2012, there were 124,000 bench warrants outstanding and as of the first quarter of this year, the figure is approximately 113,000. That is unjustifiable and indicative of a major dysfunction. The people impacted the most are victims of crime, and we must be most concerned about them. I take it that the Minister's reply is an admission that there is a failure to execute these warrants, which is a major issue facing the criminal justice system. What specific actions does the Minister intend to take to put this issue right and eliminate this major dysfunction from our criminal justice system?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The problems relating to the enforcement of warrants are longstanding, as the Deputy would recognise. Records demonstrate that the number of warrants outstanding in May 2008, for example, when the Deputy's party was in government, was 117,756, or higher than now. That does not mean I accept the current position or that it should be allowed to stand. There is no question that action is required and the problem must be addressed once and for all. The analysis in the inspectorate report is a clear way forward.

I expect Garda management to note and implement the recommendations.

The new fines legislation will make a difference in this area and I have already referred to this fact as it will provide a pathway to reduce the outstanding number. I do not mean to minimise the situation but the vast majority of warrants do not relate to violent and serious offences - most are due to the non-payment of fines relating to road traffic offences and other offences. More than 90% of all penal warrants relate to these categories of offences though I do not find the situation acceptable and know it must be dealt with.

Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

How will the Minister deal with this issue? The Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality put forward the concept of a criminal justice inspectorate and the Minister referenced the report of Mr. Robert Olson for the Garda Inspectorate, which was published last week. Has the Minister or the Cabinet sub-committee on justice reform given real consideration to the establishment of an overarching criminal justice inspectorate to examine all the major players in this area, including the Probation Service, the courts, prisons, the Garda Síochána and so on? We all agree that the figures are staggering and those most affected are the victims. Victims are not getting justice. I recognise that much of the problem relates to the non-payment of fixed charge penalty notices which necessitates a court summons by default. Nonetheless, many warrants mean that everyday people do not get justice. An overarching criminal justice inspectorate would ensure the different stakeholders in the criminal justice system communicate coherently with each other. The figures show that at the moment this does not happen.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We have just received a report from the Garda Inspectorate and I thank the three people involved in producing it, led by Mr. Robert Olson, chief inspector of the Garda Inspectorate. The report contains 500 recommendations and it suggests I establish a number of groups in the Department and the criminal justice system. The report suggests the establishment of an overarching criminal justice expert group to lead the implementation of the report's recommendations and it also makes a series of recommendations for the Garda to implement.

I understand Deputy Collins's suggestion as there is logic in it but my primary obligation as Minister for Justice and Equality is to oversee the implementation of the Garda Inspectorate report. We can consider the Deputy's point and may implement it in future but there is much work to be done now on the recommendations in the Garda Inspectorate report.