Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment and the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, for coming to the House to take it.

The proposal I put forward is self-explanatory. There is a problem with gardaí doing clerical work in that they are not doing what they were trained to do. We send them to Templemore for 18 months or two years; I am not sure about the period of training. If we wanted them to work in offices we could send them to secretarial school. We have talked for many years about putting gardaí on the street and employing civilian staff to carry out the duties in the various Garda stations.

I have spoken to senior gardaí both in Waterford city and county and it is my understanding that because of the Civil Service embargo, they have a problem in recruiting the additional clerical staff they currently need. They are trying to minimise, as much as possible, tying up gardaí with clerical work but it is causing its own difficulties. They can get somebody from FÁS or elsewhere on a temporary basis, perhaps for nine or ten months. That person is trained to a certain extent but he or she must then move on. If they are fortunate enough they may get somebody else but again that will be somebody who does not know the system, which is not satisfactory.

I understand that under current legislation the statements gardaí take must be provided in advance in writing to those involved in various court proceedings. Many of those statements are sent in handwritten form. They are handwritten by the gardaí and obviously that is not satisfactory. The Minister may not be able to read my writing and I may be unable to read the Minister's, and God knows what could be lost in the translation. Other work is backing up as a result of that. This is happening at a time when Garda numbers are on the rise, on which I commend the Government. They appeared to stagnate somewhat in the mid-1990s but they have risen steadily since then. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform promised to increase the strength of the Garda to 14,000. He is living up to that promise because at the end of this year, between gardaí who are fully attested and those in training, there will be 14,000 gardaí on the streets, which everybody will welcome.

On that, I commend the chief superintendent in the Waterford-Kilkenny division on what he has done in the past day or two. In Waterford city he has increased the number of community gardaí by six. There are now two sergeants and 12 gardaí assigned to community policing. That has been warmly welcomed because everybody wants to see more gardaí on the street. All Members believe that greater contact with the public will lead to benefits to all in future. There are disadvantages in other respects. It is entirely a matter for the Commissioner, and not a matter for the Minister or the Government, as to where gardaí are deployed. However, Stradbally, which is a village in County Waterford, lost a garda on the retirement of the incumbent. He has not been replaced despite the fact that the village is close to Dungarvan and is growing considerably. This is an example of the frustrations which exist.

I firmly believe that it would help if some gardaí could be freed from clerical duties. I am told this can be done and has been done in other areas, where one can get a derogation or permission to take on additional clerical staff. Perhaps the Garda authorities could conduct an exercise to demonstrate that the acquisition of a given number of additional clerical staff would facilitate the deployment of extra gardaí, whatever the number might be, on the streets. This might be a useful exercise and perhaps everyone could live with it. It could be a sensible way to move forward. Perhaps the Minister might examine this possibility.