Written answers

Tuesday, 3 April 2007

Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform

Garda Recruitment

10:00 pm

Photo of Jim O'KeeffeJim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 228: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of positions within An Garda Síochána that have been civilianised in 2007. [13137/07]

Photo of Michael McDowellMichael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Under the Garda Síochána Act, the Commissioner became responsible for all civilians in An Garda Síochána in 2006. The Commissioner is now responsible for recruitment of all personnel to the force including civilians.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that there is currently a campaign underway to recruit 300 civilian support staff into An Garda Síochána. This process is well underway and interviews are currently being held by the Public Appointments Service to recruit these Clerical Officers. Since the beginning of 2007, 93 Clerical Officers have been appointed to An Garda Síochána. A further 46 have been offered a Clerical Officer post.

The Garda Information Services Centre employs over 160 civilians doing work which was previously done by operational gardaí. 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. 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, front-line 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.

Preparations are at an advanced stage to commence the recruitment of a civilian Chief Administration Officer in An Garda Síochána, at a grade equivalent to Deputy Commissioner. An Garda Síochána is also in the process of recruiting senior civilian managers as Directors of Communications, Strategy, Human Resources, Finance and Information Technology. A dedicated Human Resource Directorate has been established within An Garda Síochána to serve the needs of approximately 2,000 clerical, administrative, professional, technical and industrial civilian staff already working in An Garda Síochána and to promote an extensive programme of civilianisation.

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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