Written answers

Thursday, 7 December 2006

Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform

Civilianisation Programme

7:00 pm

Photo of Ivor CallelyIvor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 17: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress that has been made on the implementation of the civilianisation programme; the success of the Garda Information Services Centre; the potential of further such initiatives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41876/06]

Photo of Michael McDowellMichael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am pleased to be able to continue to report significant progress with regard to the implementation of the programme of civilianisation in An Garda Síochána. I have provided this House with updates on Garda civilianisation on a number of occasions this year and propose to take this opportunity to recap and elaborate on some particularly noteworthy developments in this regard.

A key success in the civilianisation process has been the establishment, of the Garda Information Service Centre (GISC) in Castlebar, which now has a staffing complement of 162 civilians and is servicing all Garda regions nationally. The GISC allows Gardaí who would otherwise have to return to their Stations to input data onto the PULSE system, to log the information with their civilian colleagues in the GISC, while remaining "on the beat". This major initiative has freed up significant amounts of Garda time for frontline policing. Quality control and review of data is also managed by dedicated civilian staff at the GISC, thereby relieving Sergeants of this administrative task and allowing them to be deployed for more operational duties.

The success of the incident reporting and data quality review facilities available at the GISC encouraged the Garda authorities to seek opportunities for the devolution of further tasks to the Centre. One such initiative involves the reporting of the outcome of court cases to the GISC, which allows Gardaí to remain operational following completion of their court attendances. Having been successfully piloted in one Garda Division, a phased roll-out of this initiative to other Garda Divisions will take place over the coming months. The call-taking function of Garda Traffic Watch has already transferred from six Regional Garda Communication Centres to the GISC. Under a further initiative, the logging of driving licence and insurance particulars, a function formerly carried out by Gardaí and civilian personnel in the Fixed Charge Processing System, is now undertaken at the GISC. All of these initiatives are contributing significantly to the release of Garda resources for visible, frontline policing across our communities. It is proposed to carry out a review of the GISC in the summer of 2007 and the outcome of this evaluation will inform future projects.

A further key development has been the transfer of civilian staff to the direct control of the Garda Commissioner, a reform provided for in the Garda Síochána Act 2005. This transfer, which took place on 16 October last, brings all staff in An Garda Síochána — both Garda and civilian ranks — within the ambit of the Commissioner for the first time and should assist him in achieving the most effective and efficient deployment of both sets of resources. In order to support the transfer of civilian staff, a new Human Resources Division for civilian staff in An Garda Síochána has been established, which when fully operational will have a staffing complement of 37 civilians. The Head of the new HR Division has been appointed and a number of other staff have commenced duty, and recruitment of the remaining staff is underway.

An enhanced administrative career structure is being put in place within An Garda Síochána. The establishment of the GISC has added a significant number of supervisory and management posts to the civilian structure. Furthermore, as part of an agreement reached with staff interests regarding the transfer of civilian staff to the Commissioner, sanction has been granted by the Minister for Finance for an additional 76 civilian clerical and administrative posts to be located around the country on a regional and divisional basis. Recruitment to these posts will be progressed as soon as possible.

Under the Garda Síochána Act, the Commissioner became the Accounting Officer for An Garda Síochána in July of this year. This transfer of responsibility is being supported by the recruitment of nine civilian staff for a new Finance and Procurement Unit within An Garda Síochána.

Meanwhile, a Joint Implementation Group comprising management representatives from An Garda Síochána and my Department is continuing its work on civilianisation. Given that the 2001 Civilianisation Report was written at a particular point in time, the Group is taking account of changes which have occurred in the interim in the environment in which civilianisation is being pursued and exploring ways in which the civilianisation programme can be advanced in the short run, both in the context of the Civilianisation Report and otherwise. Significant progress is being made on recruitment to a range of key specialised civilian posts, including:

31 posts in the Garda Telecommunications area;

28 staff for the Professional Standards Unit, comprising statisticians, analysts and administrative staff;

10 posts in the new Internal Audit Unit;

14 additional teaching / training posts in the Garda College in Templemore; and

29 posts for the new civilian Crime Analysis Service.

The developments outlined above represent a major acceleration in the pace of civilianisation in An Garda Síochána. I remain committed to achieving the greatest level of civilianisation consistent with the effective and efficient functioning of An Garda Síochána and will continue to work with the Garda Commissioner to drive the civilianisation programme forward.

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