I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £56,880 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1955, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Justice.
If there is no objection, I propose to follow the practice of previous years and deal now with group of Estimates Numbers 29 to 37 for which I am responsible as Minister. These Estimates, which were all prepared before I took office as Minister for Justice, are for essential services. In general they show little change as compared with last year and I am sure that the House will not expect me to give a detailed explanation of them. The aggregate amount of the Estimates is £5,153,100 an increase of £139,750 as compared with the Estimates for 1953-54.
The first Estimate, No. 29, is for a total of £85,280 for the Office of the Minister for Justice. It shows an increase of £530 as compared with last year. The increase is mainly due to normal increments on pay scales and to the extra cost of telephone facilities which are offset, in part, by a reduction of one in the number of staff employed. There is a matter of particular public interest to which I wish to make reference—the Adoption Act, 1952. This Act came into operation on the 1st January, 1953, and the annual report of the board for the year 1953 was placed on the table of the House and is available for perusal by Deputies.
The progress by the adoption board at the commencement was necessarily slow but 381 adoption orders were made during the year. Applications for adoption are now being disposed of more rapidly and 268 orders were made in the first quarter of the current year. The appointment of a specially qualified inspector, which has been approved, will be of much assistance to the members of the board in their deliberations.
The next Estimate, No. 30, is for £4,450,250 for the Garda Síochána. It shows an increase of £136,210 as compared with the Estimate for 1953-54. It will be noted that the provision to meet the charge for pensions and gratuities payable to members of the force and to widows and children of members now appears in this Estimate. This provision was previously included in Estimate No. 16—Superannuation and Retired Allowances. The amount voted for Garda pensions and gratuities for the year 1953-54 has been included as part of the Garda Estimate for that year for the purpose of making comparision with the figures for the current year. The overall increase in the Estimate, as stated, is £136,210, of which £135,000 is due to increased cost of pensions and gratuities (sub-head P). The pay of the force was also increased as from 1st April, 1953.
Since 1948, the strength of the force has fallen from 7,425, all ranks, to 6,797 on the 1st June of this year, a reduction of 628. The strength on the 1st June included 234 recruits who were enrolled in the month of May. As these men are in training and will not be competent to perform full duty, as members of the force, for several months, the strength available for duty is now only 6,563,862 less than in 1948
The fall in numbers is due to recruiting having been stopped for some years and to the big increase in the number of retirements on pension during the past two years. The force is now 30 years in existence and as the attainment of the age of 50 years and the completion of 30 years' service entitles a member to retire, with full pension, the wastage by reason of retirements on pension is increasing. There are approximately 2,810 members over 50 years of age who have sufficient service to retire voluntarily on pension. The total number of members over 50 years of age is about 3,310. Retirements on pension in 1952 totalled 156, in 1953 there were 310 and it is estimated that during the current financial year over 450 members of the force will retire on pension. This anticipated increase in the number of retirements is reflected in the increase of £135,000 in the provision for pensions and gratuities.
Arrangements were made in 1953 to step-up recruiting to meet the danger of a sudden exodus of a large number of men from the force and 332 recruits were enrolled. The number enrolled in the year 1952 was 174. Provision has been made to recruit 500 men during the current financial year, of whom 249 have already been enrolled. The balance will it is expected, be enrolled by the end of the month of November of this year. During the period from 30th April, 1953 to 30th April, 1954, it was found possible, despite retirements, to increase the overall strength of the force in the Dublin Metropolitan area from 1,593 to 1,628.
With a view to offsetting any lessening of police supervision, which might result from the reduction in strength, steps have been taken to increase the mobility of the force. During the year 1953-54 motor cars were supplied to 29 district headquarters outside Dublin and provision has been made in the Estimates for the current year for the supply of a car to each district which has not got one at present. It is also proposed to purchase 24 motor cycles for use in certain outlaying areas, and also additional motor cycles for the supervision of traffic in Dublin and environs. The mobility provided by the extra cars and motor cycles will go some way to make up for the fall in the strength of the Force. Increased use of cars may eventually permit of a reduction being made in the number of stations.
The Prisons Estimate No. 31, at £195,530 is £1,720 less than last year, The decrease is due to smaller provision being made for maintenance of buildings and equipment (sub-head H). Last year £10,000 was included for new steam plant in Mountjoy Prison. The increased cost of feeding prisoners— £2,722 (sub-head B)—is caused by improvements in the dietaries and the increase of £6,874 in sub-head P, manufacturing departments and farms, is due to the fact that materials which were on hands for the making of officers' uniforms and prisoners' clothing were used in 1953-54. New purchases of raw materials for the manufacture of cloth require to be made this year.
Estimate No. 32 provides for the payment of such salaries and expenses of the District Court as are not charged on the Central Fund. The amount of the Estimate is £93,540, an increase of £5,560 as compared with the year 1953-54. The increase is in the main accounted for by the necessity to make provision for temporary additional justices; lesser factors being normal increments in pay of staffs and the extra cost of telephone services. The increases have been largely offset by saving brought about by staff reductions and the suppression of parttime District Court Clerk posts by amalgamating them with whole-time posts as vacancies arise.
Estimate No. 33, for the Circuit Court, at £123,970, shows a decrease of £720 as compared with the year 1953-54. This is mainly due to the retrenchment of two clerical posts and other changes in connection with the employment of stenographers.
Estimate No. 34—Supreme and High Court of Justice—provides for such salaries and expenses of the courts as are not charged on the Central Fund. The provision for the current year, £95,150, is £590 less than last year.
I do not think there is need for me to say anything about Estimates Nos. 35 to 37 for the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds, the Public Record Office and the Office of Charitable Donations and Bequests. The small variations in the sums included for the current year as compared with 1953-54 are due to minor adjustments in staffs and adjustments of pay consequent on the grants of normal increments of salary. I would, however, like to refer to the question of arrears of work in the Land Registry. Very heavy arrears of Land Commission vestings accumulated in the registry owing to the progressive increase in Land Commission activities in vesting lands since the emergency. Over the last three years steps were taken to reorganise the registry and to introduce modern methods. The modernisation so effected has resulted in increased output and I anticipate that when the Estimates are being introduced next year the Minister for Justice will be in a position to report that the arrears have been cleared off and that the work is up-to-date.
It has been usual in the past years for the Minister for Justice when introducing the Estimates for his Department to give a brief summary of the volume of crime in this country and I propose to continue the practice. Last year the then Minister had to report that the situation had not improved as compared with 1951 and I regret to say that 1953 does not show any improvement as compared with 1952. The interim report on crime for the year 1953 submitted by the Commissioner, Garda Síochána, shows that the upward tendency during the past few years in the number of indictable offences committed has not halted. In 1953, the number of such crimes was 15,695 as compared with 14,720 in 1952; 14,462 in 1951; 12,231 in 1950 and 6,769 in 1938.
The increase in 1953 occurred mainly in connection with offences against property, but offences against the person at 532 show an increase of 67 as compared with 1952. Compared with 1952, there was an increase of 710 in the number of pedal cycles stolen. Of the 15,695 indictable offences reported, 10,023 were committed in the Dublin metropolitan area.
The number of prosecutions in respect of summary offences in 1953 was 131,732, as compared with 140,115 in 1952 and 104,188 in 1938. The number of prosecutions for offences under the Road Traffic Act, 1933, was 78,127; offences against the intoxicating liquor laws numbered 18,119, and cases of unlicensed dogs accounted for 8,339 prosecutions. Failure of parents or guardians to send their children to school resulted in the institution of court proceedings in 4,469 cases.
Last year, the Minister for Justice was in the happy position to be able to report that there had been a decrease in juvenile crime in 1952 as compared with 1951. This improvement has, unfortunately, not been maintained. The figures in respect of indictable offences committed by juveniles for 1953 being 2,475, as compared with 2,341 for 1952. The figure 2,475 for 1953 is, however, 127 below that for the year 1951.
As I said at the beginning, the nine Estimates are all for essential services. They do not vary much from year to year and I trust that the House will find no difficulty in approving of them.
