Written answers

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Department of Justice and Equality

Garda Investigations

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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405. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if a PULSE file was created on a Traveller child when that child was 16 days old; and was this child ascribed a criminal intelligence number separate from a parent or guardian (details supplied). [11631/14]

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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406. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he has taken to confirm whether Traveller children or adults are being assigned separate criminal intelligence PULSE numbers without having committed any criminal conduct; and the action he will take regarding same. [11632/14]

Photo of Pádraig Mac LochlainnPádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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424. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he has established with the Garda Commissioner the veracity of the allegations that 40 Traveller families were entered on the Garda PULSE system, including a baby of 16 days old; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11997/14]

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 405, 406 and 424 together.

The management of the PULSE system is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner. While An Garda Síochána does not comment on individual cases, I am informed by the Commissioner that PULSE does not solely capture information on offenders, but is also used to store information on Garda interactions with individuals, whether adults or children, such as victims of crime, persons injured in road traffic accidents and child welfare incidents. All persons are subject to the same PULSE recording policy and procedures.

I have also been assured by the Garda Commissioner that the Garda Síochána does not engage in ethnic profiling, and specifically that it does not engage in data gathering or data mining based upon discriminatory profiling in respect of race, colour, language, religion, nationality, national or ethnic origin, ethnicity or membership of the traveller community.

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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407. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will extend the terms of reference of the Sean Guerin SC review into the whistleblower's allegations to include the allegations that 40 Traveller families were entered on the Garda PULSE system as a matter of course and without any foundation/criminal involvment including a baby of 16 days old who clearly could not have had a criminal history. [11633/14]

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Government has appointed Sean Guerin SC to conduct an independent inquiry into certain allegations made by Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe. The Government also, on the advice of the Attorney General, agreed the Terms of Reference for the inquiry, and there are no proposals to amend these.

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