Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fail)
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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.

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
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I thank Senator Kenneally for raising this matter on the Adjournment. Unfortunately, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is unable to be present. However, on his behalf, I am delighted to take this opportunity to clarify matters regarding clerical recruitment for the Senator and to inform him of the substantial progress that has been made by the Government in increasing the civilian and other staffing resources available to the Garda Síochána.

As the Senator may be aware, at present 1,857 civilians are employed in the Garda Síochána, which works out at almost 13% of total staff. This figure includes approximately 1,000 staff carrying out clerical and administrative duties, as well as 49 staff employed in professional and technical areas such as financial accounting, information technology, teaching, nursing, research, and human resources. The remainder are employed on general duties as traffic wardens, cleaners, services attendants and general operatives.

At present, the equivalent of 42 civilian posts are vacant within the Garda Síochána. Of these, just 15 posts are at clerical officer or staff officer level, with the remainder in professional, technical and general services grades. At any point in time, there will be a number of vacancies in the system arising from the time lag between a post becoming vacant and the sourcing of a replacement from the central transfer list or by recruitment through the Public Appointments Service.

The Minister is committed to filling all civilian vacancies in the Garda Síochána and his Department works to ensure the length of time that posts are left unfilled is kept to a minimum. Where necessary, the Garda Síochána has the capacity to employ staff on a temporary basis. pending the recruitment of permanent staff. In the Waterford-Kilkenny division, two clerical officer vacancies exist at present. One arises from work sharing and the other from a career break. In both cases, replacements have been provided on a temporary basis.

Hence, there is no embargo on the filling of clerical vacancies in Garda stations. As the Senator is aware, there is a cap on Civil Service numbers. However, as the figures show, this has not been allowed to have an impact upon the filling of vacancies in Garda stations. The Government has decided to transfer 300 staff from the Department of Agriculture and Food to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to assist with the civilianisation programme in the Garda Síochána.

The first phase of this transfer is under way, with the establishment of the Garda information service centre, GISC, in Castlebar which, when fully operational, will employ more than 160 civilian staff. The Garda information service centre has already yielded considerable benefits to the Garda Síochána as it frees gardaí from entering data on PULSE and from reviewing that data for quality assurance.

The GISC is just one part of a civilianisation programme which is making significant progress. A total of 113 civilian finance officers have been appointed and carry out the district finance officer duties which were hitherto performed by gardaí. A number of other posts that were previously held by members of the force have been, or are in the process of being, civilianised. Discussions are under way with staff interests with a view to transferring responsibility for civilian staff to the Garda Commissioner under the terms of the Garda Síochána Act 2005. This transfer is due to take place on 1 October 2006.

In addition, the Department, working with the Garda Síochána, reviews the possibility of civilianising other posts on an ongoing basis. This is in keeping with the understanding that civilianisation allows certain jobs to be done at a more economic cost and allows gardaí to focus on work more suited to their training and skills, thereby increasing overall operational capacity within the Garda Síochána. While the level of civilian vacancies in Garda stations is low, a number of posts filled by members of the force could be filled by civilians and the Minister is determined to make progress on this issue, notwithstanding some obstacles, including the equal pay case taken by the Civil and Public Services Union, which is currently under appeal.

However, I assure the Senator that the Minister is determined that the additional gardaí being recruited under the current historic expansion of the force will be deployed to frontline, visible and effective policing duties. I should also note that the timescale for achieving the target strength of 14,000 members of the Garda Síochána in line with the commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government will be met. The phased increase in the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 will lead to a combined strength, of both attested gardaí and recruits in training, of 14,000 by the end of this year. This project is fully on target and will be achieved.

The Minister values the contribution that civilian staff make to the success of the Garda Síochána. The Minister is committed to further civilianisation of posts in the Garda Síochána. Pending the full implementation of the civilianisation programme, the Minister is determined to ensure that vacancies in Garda stations are filled without undue delay.

Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for the his reply. His comment that a number of posts that are filled at present by members of the force could be filled by civilians echoes my point. I hope the Minister will be in a position to sort that out as soon as possible.