Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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115. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 132 of 18 January 2018, the reason for the delay in the issuing of the response; when the requested information will be supplied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9227/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I explained in my response to the Deputy on 18 January 2018 that it was not possible in the timeframe allowed to compile the information requested.

GSOC were asked for additional information to enable me to reply fully to the Deputy's question. Subsequently GSOC undertook to respond directly to the Deputy when the information was compiled.

I am advised that GSOC wrote to the Deputy on 9 February 2018 advising her that they would issue her directly with a detailed reply by 23 February 2018. GSOC explained to the Deputy that a significant amount of effort was required to examine their archives in order to retrieve relevant material.

However, I have now been informed by GSOC that they expect to be able to provide a detailed reply to the Deputy during the week commencing 26 February 2018.  As the Deputy will appreciate, the collection and compilation of records sought from 2005 is onerous and time consuming given that the request covers periods before GSOC became fully operational.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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116. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the details of the request from GSOC for 12 additional staff forwarded to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform; the number of posts which were sought in this request; and if it accurately reflected the number of posts sought by GSOC. [9228/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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In November 2016 GSOC submitted a proposal to my Department for the creation of a designated unit to deal with protected disclosures. The proposal requested funding for a separate office within GSOC and for 12 new staff.  At that time, GSOC had 10 protected disclosures on hand. 

My Department liaised with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) in relation to the request. Staff from my Department met with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and provided them with a copy of the GSOC proposal. Subsequent to that meeting the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sought specific information in relation to existing arrangements/staffing ratios, etc., which my Department requested from GSOC.  

While awaiting this information, my Department sought immediate sanction for 5 staff to get the new unit up and running. In May 2017, sanction was obtained from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for the initial approval of 5 staff. It was clearly communicated to GSOC that the provision of further staff could be considered in the context of the 2018 Budget by which time the impact of the establishment of the unit and the adequacy of the 5 staff could be assessed.  There was a clear commitment on the part of my Department at all times, that GSOC could re-engage on the issue as the situation developed and that the door was open to more resources being made available for the new unit based on further information being provided and experience of the operation of the new unit. 

Unfortunately, it has taken far longer than my Department envisaged at the time, for the 5 staff to be recruited and as of now, GSOC has not yet succeeded in recruiting all the staff sanctioned in May 2017. 

Finally, the Deputy may be interested to know that I met with the Chair of GSOC last September and discussed with her, among other things, the resourcing of GSOC.  I invited her to set out for me her best assessment of the overall resource requirements to provide the level of service that complainants, and all those interested in the effective and efficient investigation of complaints against members of An Garda Síochána, expect and deserve.  I am pleased to say that I have, this week, received a detailed business case for additional resources from GSOC and I will ensure that it is dealt with expeditiously.  It is in no-one's interest that there is any perception that GSOC cannot fulfil its statutory mandate for want of resources and I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that GSOC has the resources it requires.