Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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304. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide in tabular form the number of computers in each Garda station; her plans to upgrade the IT infrastructure in An Garda Síochána; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49351/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Under the Garda Síochána Act, 2005 the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of available Garda resources which includes the various technologies deployed to support front line Gardaí and intelligence led operations against organised crime. In that context I am informed by the Garda authorities that there are currently 6,500 desktop computers operating in 430 networked locations across the Garda Síochána estate, each with access to a variety of Garda systems such as PULSE, the Fixed Charge Processing System, the Garda National Immigration Bureau Information System and the Garda Portal in addition to email and Internet facilities. I am further advised that precise details of the number of computers in operation broken down by each of the 430 locations is not readily available and would require a disproportionate amount of Garda time and resources to compile.

As regards plans for the upgrading of technology, the Deputy will be aware that following the publication of the Garda Inspectorate report on Crime Investigation, I clearly signalled my intention to support the Garda Síochána in their efforts to address IT issues which were identified in the report. I have entered into discussions with my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in this regard and there have also been preliminary discussions between my Department, the Garda Inspectorate and the Garda Síochána in order to identify what can be implemented in the short, medium and long term. A separate internal in-depth examination of all the recommendations in the Garda Inspectorate report has also been commenced by the Garda Commissioner and this will also encompass those relating to technology.

Finally, notwithstanding the deficits identified in the Inspectorate's report, there have been recent positive developments with regard to the use of technology to support Garda operations. In particular, I have been informed that a project to migrate all Garda desktop PCs to a new industry standard operating system is 95% complete and will be fully completed in January 2015.

An additional upgrade that will facilitate additional functionality in the area of data classification is also being implemented as part of this upgrade. More efficient and cost effective printing services and data storage facilities and the virtualisation of server environments have also been achieved in recent months and the forensic capacity of An Garda Síochána will soon be enhanced by the new national DNA database which is expected to become operational in the new year.