Dáil debates

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Ceisteanna - Questions

Cabinet Committees

3:40 pm

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet sub-committee on justice reform was last convened. [19812/16]

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on justice reform last met. [22524/16]

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. The Government re-established the Cabinet committee on justice reform in May 2016 to provide political oversight of the delivery of the commitments in the programme for a partnership Government to reform the policing, justice and legal systems and related issues. The Cabinet committee last met on 6 July 2016.

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Can the Taoiseach set out the membership of the committee? In respect of the committee's terms of reference, the former committee looked in particular at the two reform proposals from the Garda Síochána Inspectorate which were not only very comprehensive but very critical of the current structure of An Garda Síochána. They looked at the way the force was deployed, the way resources were deployed, its mechanism for following through on investigations and its information relating to the time for investigation of every particular type of crime in each division. Will the inspectorate reports remain the basis for the reform agenda to be delivered by the Cabinet sub-committee?

My next question concerns the plan of the Garda Commissioner.

Is that the plan that is being implemented? Is it being implemented in tandem with the Inspectorate reform, or how are the two being co-ordinated? In terms of investment, would the Taoiseach agree with me that one of the most critical issues for An Garda Síochána has been the lack of proper IT infrastructure? That is why the previous administration allocated more than €200 million to upgrade IT. Will the Taoiseach set out for the House where we are on the roll-out of that significant upgrade of PULSE and the timeline for its delivery across the country?

In terms of what might be described as local political interference, with individual Garda stations that were closed but that are in the constituencies of members or supporters of the Government are now, as part of the new Government agreement, to be reopened, on what basis are objective decisions being taken about the deployment of An Garda Síochána and the structure of Garda stations across the country?

3:50 pm

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Eight men have been murdered as part of a criminal gang feud in Dublin, and the impact of this on the whole community, especially in the north inner city, has been enormous. Many residents - families and their children - are living in fear. The Taoiseach met with some of them recently and he quite rightly praised and commended their resilience and steadfastness. Since then, as well as the fear arising from the gang feud and the ongoing drugs trade in that area, there is also a concern that once the media focus moves off onto other issues the commitments and promises of support from the Government will not be delivered. The Taoiseach will know that what the people want and need is an integrated plan for the social, economic, educational and community development of their community. They are looking for funding, projects, jobs, counsellors, homes, teachers for children, Garda youth diversion projects, addiction services and so on.

The Taoiseach asked recently for the terms of reference of the community coalition in Dublin's north inner city and, with their permission, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald provided him with this. He agreed to meet with representatives of the coalition and bring back proposals to them about the task force and its terms of reference and so on. I do not want to presume or make judgment on what the Taoiseach said earlier but, if I heard him properly, he said he was going to the constituency tomorrow and appears to have agreed the terms of reference. Will he give us some sense of the terms of reference and recommit to consulting in good faith with the people he met, given the seriousness of the issues involved? It is all about empowering people. These people have empowered themselves. The Taoiseach said in an earlier discussion here that there appeared to be a gap between what has happened in here and what is happening down there. I challenged the Taoiseach on this. I said it is not that there appears to be a gap; there is a gap. The Taoiseach made a firm commitment about consultation and going back to consult with the folks he met previously. I ask him to give us as much information as he can on that.

I request an update on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Garda Inspectorate report, Changing Policing in Ireland, and I also request that he address the concern about a whole range of Garda appointments that were made. I do not want to go through them all, as I do not want to take up other people's time. A whole range of promotions were made which could and should have been made by the policing authority, but there was a rush to do this at the request of the Garda Commissioner before the authority was authorised to do it. Is the Taoiseach concerned about this? It strikes me as being something that does not bode well for what we are trying to do in terms of a new beginning to policing, or at least the effort to reform the gardaí so that it is a service that its men and women deserve and that those whom they mind deserve also.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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A number of questions were asked. Deputy Howlin raised the membership of the Cabinet committee on justice reform, comprised of myself, as chair, the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Attorney General. As others are needed they will attend. The terms of reference are to provide political oversight of the delivery of commitments in the programme for a partnership Government, to reform the policing, justice and legal systems and related issues.

Deputy Howlin mentioned the Inspectorate report. In November 2014, the Garda Inspectorate published a comprehensive report on crime investigation, and significant work is continuing to implement the recommendations. That includes a review of crime counting rules by the CSO, the establishment of a data quality team in An Garda Síochána, significant reorganisation and amalgamation of Garda national units, and the establishment of a criminal justice steering group to provide greater co-ordination between all bodies operating within the criminal justice system. The Garda has established a new incident recording process and a working group has examined the need for increased investment in Garda ICT as part of the upcoming capital programme. The Garda has established a victim support office in every local Garda division and, in addition, the previous Government put in place measures to ensure and enhance ongoing public confidence in policing in Ireland while continuing to support the men and women of An Garda Síochána in their day-to-day duties of keeping communities in the country safe. On the Garda Inspectorate report on management and structures, the Tánaiste put in place a process to seek the views of the Garda Commissioner, to whom the bulk of recommendations are directed, and other bodies to whom recommendations are directed.

The Deputy also mentioned modern technology. As he is aware, €330 million, including €205 million under the capital programme, is being invested in the Garda ICT infrastructure between 2016 and 2021. This major investment will allow the gardaí to deploy the latest cutting-edge technologies in the fight against crime and will facilitate progress on an important set of reforms arising from the Garda Inspectorate's report on crime investigation. A considerable amount of the new Garda ICT solutions have been delivered over the past five years. These include the deployment of a secure national digital radio system, the deployment and support of Garda and community CCTV systems, an automated number plate registration, ANPR, system, and the addition of many new functions to the PULSE system, which is further supported by a dedicated Garda data entry service in Davitt House in Castlebar.

The substantial additional investment under the capital programme out to 2021 will facilitate progress on a range of other important reforms that arise from the Inspectorate report on crime investigation. Examples of some of the new systems to be developed include new computer-aided despatch to ensure responsive and co-ordinated deployment of gardaí in the community, mobile technology to give gardaí secure mobile access to critical information when and where they need it, investigation management systems to ensure enhanced management of crime investigations, and an upgrade of the ANPR to enhance policing of road safety and compliance.

Obviously, there is an interest in supplying increased numbers of CCTV systems as well.

In respect of Deputy Adams' question on gangland crime, the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality has been in close and extensive engagement with the Garda Commissioner and senior officers on the measures to tackle the appalling crime situation in certain areas where gangs operate and significant progress has been made in the investigations which are under way. Both the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality and I have assured the Garda that whatever resources are necessary will be made available to it. On the basis of that assurance, the Garda, day in and day out, is incurring substantial additional expenditure, including overtime expenditure.

On 8 June, the Government approved substantial additional funding to be provided to the Garda. An additional allocation of €55 million is being made available this year for the purpose of tackling organised crime. These additional moneys are made available based on information from Garda management regarding the level of funding required to maintain the necessary policing response to the current situation. This will allow for concentrated policing targeting gang-related crime and the continued intensive and strategic targeting of burglaries and related crime through the support for Operation Thor, which has been successful, and continued support for measures against terrorism.

Underpinning all of that has been the reopening of Templemore and the decision to increase the Garda strength to 15,000 by way of recruitment. While in the short term substantial funds continue to be made available for overtime working measures to accelerate the planned programme of recruitment, they are being worked on now so that additional new gardaí can be provided as quickly as possible.

I note that the Criminal Assets Bureau is one of the few areas of public expenditure that was largely ring-fenced from reductions in public service staffing during the economic crisis. Its staffing complement now of approximately 70 is similar to what it was in the late 2000s.

In respect of Garda measures to deal with gangland crime, the new special crime task force has been put in place. This will operate in co-operation with other agencies, such as the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection. The task force will use-----

4:00 pm

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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A Cheann Comhairle, gabh mo leithscéal-----

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach did not answer the question.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----the expertise of Garda divisional asset profilers, all of whom have received specific specialised training, as well as the expertise of the Garda Síochána analyst service, and the purpose of the task force will be to focus relentlessly on persons involved in gangland activities.

I would say also to Deputy Adams that the decision was made to strengthen Garda resources this year, including steps to establish a dedicated armed support unit in the Dublin area. The Dublin armed support unit is in the process of being set up and trained. However, it must be clearly understood that, pending the full establishment of the new unit, arrangements have been put in place so that the necessary armed support is being provided on an overtime basis. The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality is being kept up to date on this work on the establishment of the unit, including all of the necessary training, and preparatory arrangements are being put on place as a matter of priority.

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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On a point of order-----

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I am implementing the rules. The time is up. If Deputy Adams wants to make a point of order, I will allow him.

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Tá mé fíor buíoch díotsa. Winning and sustaining the confidence of communities which are victimised by gangs is really important.

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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That is not a point of order.

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I asked the Taoiseach a specific question about consulting with the people in the Dublin north inner city who he met and who he promised to go back to meet.

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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That is not a point of order.

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach did not answer the question.

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The time is up for this question.

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach deliberately did not answer it.

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach ran the clock down and did not answer.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will send the details to Deputy Adams. I will meet the group.

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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If Deputy Adams has an issue, I ask him to go to the Ceann Comhairle. I am taking the next question which is from Deputy Micheál Martin.