Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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371. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of outstanding warrants nationwide on the Police Using Leading Systems Effectively, PULSE, system; if she is concerned at the number of outstanding warrants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29922/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Garda authorities that there were 115,772 warrants outstanding at 30 June 2015. The Deputy will appreciate that at any one time there will inevitably be a number of warrants awaiting execution. I might mention that in May 2008 there were approximately 117,000 warrants outstanding ; in January 2014 122,000.

As the Deputy is aware, difficulties in relation to the execution of warrants have been a matter of concern for many years, with similar or higher numbers outstanding in the past. It is also true to say that this is a long standing difficulty for many police forces around the world.

While genuine difficulties can arise where it does not prove possible to enforce a warrant, I regard it as a priority that systems are in place to ensure that warrants are enforced as quickly as possible. In this regard, I am advised that An Garda Síochána gives priority to the execution of warrants in respect of serious crime and will continue to do so.

The Deputy will be aware that a very welcome analysis of this issue was provided by the Garda Síochána Inspectorate in their report on Crime Investigation of November 2014. The recommendations in the Inspectorate report are a very important element in the overall strategic transformation programme which is underway in An Garda Síochána. In relation to the recommendations on Warrants, I am informed that a Warrants Review Group has been working on means of better managing and enforcing warrants in the context of the Inspectorate’s analysis and I am advised that the impact of this process will be the subject of regular updates.

A relevant issue which was highlighted in the Garda Inspectorate report is the number of warrants generated as a result of non-payment of fines in circumstances where previously imprisonment was the only option available to the Court in cases of non-payment. These warrants make up a significant proportion of the total figure referred to above. Under the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014, which will come into effect later this year, alternatives to imprisonment are now provided for, and the aim is to significantly reduce the number of persons committed for non-payment. In addition to reducing the number of persons imprisoned for non-payment, this important legislation should also reduce the number of warrants the Gardaí are called upon to enforce.

The Garda Inspectorate Report acknowledges the difficulties often faced by Gardaí in pursuing the execution of warrants but it also points to significant deficiencies in the current systems, some of which are tied to the available technology for recording and monitoring information on warrants. In this regard, I have been working closely with Minister Howlin to support the development of Garda systems to meet the realities and expectations of 21st Century policing and I hope to be in a position to make significant announcements shortly in relation to Garda ICT systems.