Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 117: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of Garda stations which are awaiting the installation of the PULSE computer system; the cost to date of the system; and if he has confidence in the system. [25968/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Garda authorities that Pulse is now available in 338 locations. There are currently no plans to extend the system to further locations. In this regard, cognisance is taken of the successful operation of the Garda Information Services Centre at Castlebar, Co. Mayo, which currently processes over 9,000 calls per week and obviates the need for Gardaí to return to their stations to report incidents thereby freeing up more Gardaí for operational duties. Any decision by the Garda authorities to extend the system beyond the current number will be based on operational needs.

The Garda authorities advise that PULSE is operating very satisfactorily. Significant investment was made last year to improve the availability and response times of the system. The functionality of the system is continually being enhanced to accommodate new business requirements, new policies and legislative changes. The initial development cost of the PULSE project was €61.3 million and covers the period up to the final release of the system which was rolled out in 2001. In addition, the average annual maintenance and upgrade costs from 2001 to the end of 2006 amounts to €12.88 million.

By way of background, the annual maintenance figures include replacement of the PULSE hardware and major upgrades to the Pulse software as part of the Garda PULSE stabilisation programme which was completed last year. In addition, a range of upgrades and modifications have been carried out to the system to support changes arising from new legislation, additional functionality etc. It also includes costs associated with the extension of the PULSE system to new locations and to the set-up of the new Garda Information Services Centre in Castlebar and the new Vetting Unit in Thurles. The figure also includes a figure in the order of €14.28m for various software licences. The full licence cost is included for completeness although the costs relate to software licences which are also used for other Garda systems such as the Garda National Immigration Bureau and the Fixed Charge Processing systems.

Following the amalgamation of PULSE, the Garda National Immigration System and the Fixed Charge Processing System into a single Garda Information System (GIS) at the end of 2006, it is not possible to provide details of costs specific to PULSE from that time.