Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 50: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason the creation of 900 civilian posts within the Garda has resulted in the release of only 144 Garda personnel for frontline policing duties, as highlighted in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General; the steps he will take to ensure greater use of civilian personnel, as recommended in the recent report of the Garda Inspectorate on Resource Allocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28348/10]

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 65: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of gardaí who are being used for secretarial work that could be carried out by civilians; if he is satisfied that a genuine effort is being made to release the maximum number of gardaí to policing duties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28087/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 50 and 65 together.

Increased civilian support for the Garda Síochána does not exclusively take the form of one for one replacement of individual Gardaí with civilians. In some instances, civilianisation does indeed enable the direct replacement of sworn members, who are engaged in exclusively clerical, administrative or technical duties, with civilian staff. In many other cases however, it allows sworn members who would otherwise have to devote a very substantial part of their working day to performing administrative duties such as data entry about crime incidents which goes on the PULSE system to focus exclusively on front-line policing duties. Civilian staff may also be recruited to perform new or expanded administrative, managerial and professional support roles in the Garda Síochána, for example as crime analysts or IT specialists. These are roles which did not exist in the Garda organisation until recently.

On this account, and because of the significant restructuring of roles, functions and business areas that has taken place at all levels of the Garda Síochána in recent years, it is difficult to quantify the exact number of posts which were occupied by sworn members but which today are held by civilians. I can however confirm that since 2003 the number of civilians in the Garda Síochána has risen from 1,063 to approximately 2,116 whole time equivalents. While this is still a lower proportion compared to some similar police services in other jurisdictions, the Deputies will be aware that the Commissioner is committed to increasing this number further as resources, within the current employment control framework, allow.

The recommendations in the recent report of the Garda Inspectorate on resource allocation are being carefully examined so that the potential for maximising the use of civilians and in turn releasing members of An Garda Síochána for frontline policing can be realised.