Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 492: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if it would make more sense, from both a financial and numerical point of view, to hire more gardaí in view of the fact that the overtime bill for the Garda is currently running at €170 million. [33986/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The annual overtime bill for the Garda Síochána for 2005 is not running at anything like €170 million. The budgetary position is that €61.5 million was provided for Garda overtime in 2005.

The Deputy will be aware that, in October 2004, the Government approved my proposal to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 members on a phased basis, in line with the commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government in this regard. This is a key commitment in the programme for Government.

As part of the accelerated recruitment campaign to facilitate this process, approximately 1,100 Garda recruits will be inducted this year and for the next two years, by way of intakes to the Garda college of approximately 275 recruits every quarter. This will lead to a combined strength, of both attested gardaí and recruits in training, of 14,000 by the end of 2006. I should add that this accelerated recruitment process is fully on target and a total of 1,130 Garda recruits are in training at present.

The Deputy may also be aware of my plans to establish a Garda reserve as provided for in the Garda Síochána Act 2005. The purpose of the Garda reserve, which is a standard feature of policing in many other common law countries, will be to assist the Garda Síochána in the performance of its functions, including policing road traffic and related matters. I have asked the Garda Commissioner to submit proposals to me for the reserve, addressing all relevant recruitment, training and development issues.

While these developments will greatly strengthen the operational capacity of the force and assist in the discharge of its functions, the increasingly intensive and round-the-clock nature of Garda work generally and the need for the Garda Síochána to be able to respond at short notice to particular demands means that overtime expenditure is an essential element in the provision of an effective policing service, no matter how strong the force's regular operational capacity may be. The objective of Garda overtime, for which approximately €60 million was originally allocated this year, is to allow the Garda Síochána flexibility in responding to circumstances which require personnel resources over and above those available from Gardaí on rostered duty. Overtime typically arises in the following circumstances: crime investigation, attendance at court, security, major events or incidents, road safety, etc.

As the Deputy may be aware, in May this year I announced that an additional €6.5 million in overtime was being provided to the Garda Commissioner for Operation Anvil. This is one of the most intensive special policing operations ever undertaken in the State and is aimed at those involved in gun crime of any kind in the Dublin metropolitan region. This funding provided for an additional 15,000 hours overtime each week in the Dublin area which did not adversely affect existing agreed overtime allocations across the Garda divisions, including those for the Dublin metropolitan division. I have since made available additional funding to enable Operation Anvil to continue until the end of the year.