As Deputies are aware, the main Estimates for the six Votes for which I am responsible were passed without discussion before the summer recess, and the Supplementary Estimate which I have moved for the Office of the Minister for Justice is really a token Vote to facilitate an Estimates debate on my Department's various services. I propose, therefore, to deal with the services as a group in my introductory speech so that, as in previous years, there may be one general discussion—without, of course, prejudicing the right of any Deputy to raise any particular point. The Supplementary Estimate for the Garda Síochána will also be covered by the general discussion.
The total Estimate for all the Votes for which I am responsible, including the token Vote for my Office and the Supplementary Estimate for the Garda Síochána is £8,662,400, an increase of £1,118,690 over the amount estimated for the year 1962/63. Apart from the Supplementary Estimate for the Garda Síochána, which I shall deal with later, the increase is due principally to some extra staff in the Office of the Minister for Justice; to the larger provision which continues to be required for Garda pensions, as the older members of the Force retire: and to building improvements in the prisons.
As we are already in the second half of the present financial year, the House will bear with me if, in dealing with the year ended 31st March last, I touch also on developments subsequent to that date. The general picture is one of progress, not only in carrying out what I may call the Department's traditional administrative functions, but in developing new services and in the making of improved arrangements for the prompt and efficient discharge of the Department's work. The increased staff for which provision is made in the Estimate for the Office of the Minister for Justice has been allocated to the various sections of the Department as required.
Arrangements, now in the final stages, for the transfer of the Garda Síochána Training Centre to Templemore, have involved a good deal of work in the Department, which has also been closely concerned with the disposal, under the Garda Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme, of a major pay claim brought on behalf of ranks up to chief superintendent. A Committee which I set up to consider the subject of penal reform has already made quite a number of valuable recommendations, many of which have already been not only approved but put into effect. The staff engaged on the law reform programme continues to gather momentum, and is participating to an increased extent in the legal affairs of a number of international organisations.
Mention of international contacts in legal matters would not be complete without a reference, which I am very happy to make, to the invitation generously extended to me by the German Government to visit that country with a party of Irish jurists to study legal developments and the functioning of legal institutions in that country. The visit took place in September-October last year and was an interesting and stimulating experience for the participants. I should like to take this opportunity to express publicly to the German Federal Republic and its distinguished Minister for Justice my appreciation and gratitude for their generosity and hospitality.
While on the subject of international contacts, I should like to tell the House that the Third Conference of the European Ministers for Justice will be held in Dublin next May. This conference which will be held under the auspices of the Council of Europe is the third in a series of such Conferences, the other two, which I attended, having been held in Paris and Rome. On the occasion of the last Conference in Rome in October of 1962, I extended an invitation from the Irish Government to hold the next Conference in Dublin, and this was unanimously accepted. About 15 countries participate in this Conference, which is concerned with a wide variety of legal matters, such as penal reform, criminology and international law. It is, therefore, an institution of very great importance and the Government and I are gratified that Dublin should be chosen as the venue for this year's conference.
On the legislative side, a fair amount of progress was again made and a number of Bills were enacted into law; these were the Statute Law Revision Bill, the Official Secrets Bill and the Hotel Proprietors Bill. A good deal of work has been going on simultaneously on the preparation of legislation to deal with registration of titles, a comprehensive, highly technical measure; a Bill to amend the law relating to extradition; a Guardianship of Infants Bill; a Bill to consolidate and amend the law relating to pawnbroking; a Bill to give effect to the Government's decision to abolish capital punishment except in certain circumstances; an amendment of the Adoption Act, 1952, in minor respects; an amendment of the Firearms Act, 1925, to provide for the control of air guns in the hands of young people; and a Bill to deal with the Administration of Estates and Wills.
As Deputies are no doubt aware, Parliamentary Bills are like icebergs in that less than one-fifth of the work put into their structure appears above the surface: a great deal of consultation goes on between the promoting Department and the various interests involved, with experts on the points of law at issue, and then the Minister and Government in turn have to immerse themselves in the intricacies and decide on policy and major issues. I am mentioning this in passing, as an explanation of what would appear to be the comparatively slow progress of some measures which I had hoped would have been dealt with in the House before now.
Apart from the preparation of legislation, my Department has been concerned in the operation of several Committees of Inquiry. There are, for instance, the Courts Committee which is enquiring into practice and procedure in the Courts, a Bankruptcy Committee, a Ground Rents Committee, an Inter-Departmental Committee examining the law relating to compensation for malicious injuries and an Inter-Departmental Committee enquiring into penal reform.
Last year I mentioned that the indictable crime figures for the year ended 30th September, 1961, were a little lower than the preceding year, the actual figures being 15,375 in 1960 and 14,818 in 1961. The 1962 figures show a small increase, the figure being 15,307, which is substantially the same as two years ago. Provisional figures for the nine months ended 30th June, 1963, however, show a further and fairly substantial upward trend, but the figures are still running well below the 1959 figure of 17,865.
There has been a continuing increase in housebreakings since 1960, the figure for 1962 being 3,466, as against 3,186 in 1961 and 2,982 in 1960. Provisional figures for the period 1st October, 1962, to 30th June, 1963, show a further increase, and when final figures are in, it is not unlikely that they will show that the 1959 figure of 3,824 has been surpassed in the year ended 30th September, 1963. By comparison with other countries, these figures are low and are not such as to constitute any really serious crime problem for the community. Even so, the trend, in the case of crimes of this type, that is, breaking and entering, has been in the wrong direction and the Garda Síochána have been directing special attention to these crimes, with particular emphasis on precautionary measures.
As is to be expected, the main problem arises in Dublin, and for this reason we have established in Dublin a special Crime Preventive Unit in the charge of an inspector. Some months ago a sergeant from each of the seven districts in Dublin was temporarily assigned to assist this unit in their work of surveying business premises and advising the owners of ways and means of improving security arrangements. Outside Dublin, the same work is done by the Garda Síochána in the course of their ordinary duties, and there again the notice of all ranks was recently directed to the value of this work, and the need to give special attention to it.
As I need hardly say, measures of this kind could achieve nothing without the co-operation and goodwill of the owners of premises. Those are usually forthcoming. The Gardaí for their part, have to have regard to the difficulties facing the owners of premises and to realise that there is a limit beyond which the owners cannot reasonably be expected to go in the way of incurring expense on security measures. However, it very often happens that the security of a particular premises can be greatly improved by a very small expenditure, which the owner gladly undertakes when his attention is drawn to the need for it.
The overall detection rate in 1962 was 66 per cent, which happens to be exactly the same as in the preceding year. In Dublin it was 47 per cent and outside Dublin 85 per cent. These figures, I may say, are regarded as excellent in police circles and compare very favourably with those of other countries, in comparable conditions. This applies both to the Dublin figures and the others. The position in regard to the summary offences is little changed from the previous year. The total number of offences for which proceedings were instituted was 105,189, as compared with 104,057 in 1961. The number of prosecutions for road traffic offences was 77,203; the figure for 1961 was 77,834.
As Deputies are aware, the fines-on-the-spot scheme came into operation in Dublin on 1st April, 1963, coinciding with the coming into operation of the new traffic bye-laws. It seems to be working very well.
The good work of the Adoption Board continues. They made 699 adoption orders in 1962, approximately 150 more than in the preceding year, of which 339 were in respect of boys and 360 in respect of girls. The Board normally sits in Dublin, but to facilitate adopters, they held sittings during the year in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Wexford, Sligo and Letterkenny. As the House is aware, an amending Bill which will considerably facilitate the work of the Adoption Board and which makes a number of desirable improvements in the system has been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.
At the end of 1962, 3,177 aliens were registered, i.e. they were residing here for periods of three months or more. The corresponding figure for the end of 1961 was 3,140. Apart from aliens who came here from Britain, over 47,000 aliens landed in the State during the year, as compared with about 43,000 in 1961. Of these, of course, the great majority are visitors, and indeed there has been no significant change in the level of our resident alien population for many years. Eighty-one persons were naturalised in 1962.
Twelve hundred and twenty-five films were examined by the Film Censor in 1962, of which 1,007 were passed (two on appeal) and 192 were passed with cuts (one on appeal). Twenty-six films were rejected. The total footage examined was over 3,300,300, a drop of about 400,000 feet on the previous year.
The Censorship of Publications Board examined 569 books and 33 periodicals in 1962. Of these, 36 books were examined as a result of formal complaints and 533 were examined on reference from the customs authorities. The Board made 389 Prohibition Orders in respect of books and 26 in respect of periodical publications. Four of the books had been the subject of Prohibition Orders in earlier years, but, for technical reasons, it was necessary to make repeat Orders in respect of them. There were five appeals in respect of periodical publications, one of which was allowed.
Comhairle na Mire Gaile awarded 38 certificates of bravery.
The Public Record Office continued to discharge its regular functions during the year, and received for safe keeping the usual batches of documents transferred from the offices of the various courts, that is to say, documents and records of cases disposed of for over 20 years. In addition to documents from official sources, the office has in the past year received from private citizens presentations of a number of testamentary and other documents. These documents are, for the most part, wills and papers of that kind which have served their original purpose, and are presented by solicitors and others to the Public Record Office, where they can be preserved for the future and may be of importance for historical research purposes. I regard such activity as highly commendable and would like to encourage persons having in their possession old documents which are no longer required for legal purposes but which may be of historical interest to present them to the Public Record Office. Donors may get copies of these documents free of charge at any time, and their generosity will be recorded in due course in the reports of the Public Record Office. If I might indicate the acquisitions of this kind which are particularly desirable, I would mention deeds over 200 years old, maps other than those emanating from the Ordnance Survey, rentals over 100 years old and briefs and abstracts of title containing early genealogical information.
Before I leave the subject of the Public Record Office, I might mention also that, among the documents received for keeping during the year were a number of old prison registers. While these, because of the nature of their contents are not ordinarily made available to the public for inspection, I shall be prepared to consider applications from persons having bona fide reasons, for special permission to see them.
Last year I referred to the new provision which had been made in the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Justice to subsidise the preparation and publication of legal text books. This scheme is operated by the Incorporated Council for Law Reporting with financial and other assistance from my Department. The preparation of legal textbooks dealing with the law of this country is a slow and tedious process, but is becoming of increasing importance according as developments in the field of law reform here make textbooks prepared elsewhere, for use outside the country, progressively less suitable and less accurate for use by Irish practitioners and students.
I am glad to record that the first book prepared under my Department's scheme—a textbook on the administration of estates—made its appearance in the bookshops during the summer. While I would not be justified in going so far as to assert "tosnú maith, leath no hoibre", the new book certainly represents a good start on which the Incorporated Council for Law Reporting is to be congratulated. Now that the first furrow has been broken, we can look forward to quicker progress in this field, which is both extensive and important.
I now pass on to the next Vote, No. 24, that for the Garda Síochána. Taking the figures in the original Estimate, £6,605,150, together with those in the Supplementary Estimate, £1,014,100, the total expenditure for the current year is estimated at £7,619,250, which shows a net increase of £1,077,960 on the Estimate for last year. Virtually the full amount of the increase—in fact an increase of over £1 million—arises in the subheads dealing with the salaries, pensions and allowances of members of the Garda Síochána. This results from the implementation by the Government of the findings of the Chairman of the Garda Síochána Arbitration Board on claims made by the Garda Síochána Representative Bodies for higher pay. The estimated cost of implementing the award in respect of the current year is £787,000 for pay; an additional £115,000 will be required to cover the period from 9th January, 1963, to 31st March, 1963, in the case of Guards and from 15th January, 1963, to 31st March, 1963, in respect of inspectors, station sergeants and sergeants. The increase in pay will also be reflected in an estimated additional expenditure of £102,100 in respect of pensions, gratuities, etc., of members of the Garda Síochána. The pension provision in the original Estimate shows an increase of £204,805 on last year's figure; this follows from an increase in the number of pensioners and from increases in pensions approved by the Minister for Finance with effect from 1st August, 1962.
Were it not for a reduction in the Garda strength, for which provision is made, with a consequential reduction in the cost of clothing and equipment, and also a saving under the heading of transport, the net increase in the Estimate would be considerably greater.
Once again I am glad to pay tribute to all ranks of the Force for the manner in which they carried out their duties during the year. The pleasant and efficient manner in which they carried out their special tasks during President Kennedy's visit was commented upon favourably by many members of the public and earned the force the enthusiastic commendation of our country's very distinguished visitor. The crime position in the country, though not by any means such as to encourage complacency, is nevertheless relatively better than in any country we know of. That is, in great measure, due to the zeal and efficiency of the Force.
Deputies are already aware of the efforts being made to revive sport and athletics in the Garda Síochána. The Central Committee, known as An Coiste Siamsa, is doing excellent work in this regard. I feel I ought to mention that every Garda recruit is now given lessons in swimming and life-saving. We are indebted to Messrs. Arthur Guinness & Co. for so generously placing at the disposal of the Force for this purpose their magnificent swimming pool. When recruits leave the Depot, they are encouraged to carry on swimming and life-saving courses and the Red Cross Society has undertaken to supply instructors and to provide groups with films for instruction purposes.
Representations are frequently made against proposals to close down stations or reduce them to one-man units. I should like to assure Deputies that these proposals, which fall to be approved by me personally, arise only in cases where, by reason of the absence of crime, the sparsity of population, etc., I am satisfied that such reductions can be made without detriment to police efficiency. In the calendar year, 1962, seven stations were closed and four reduced to one-man units.
I now come to a subject which is of great importance to the welfare of the Force, namely, the provision of suitable accommodation. I am glad to be able to say that the progress which I reported to the House last December is being maintained. At present, work is in progress on the erection of 23 stations outside Dublin. A new station at Cabra was opened at the beginning of October. Another new station at Crumlin is expected to be ready for occupation by the end of this year. In addition, it is proposed to provide new stations at Store Street, Rathmines, Terenure, Raheny, Dundrum, Coolock, Clondalkin and Ballyfermot and sites have been either acquired or are in course of negotiation for about 80 country stations. An ambitious programme for the building of houses for Gardaí by the National Building Agency is now getting into top gear. During the past year 30 new houses for married members have been provided and work is in progress on 130 houses.
The new Garda training centre at Templemore is nearing completion and I expect that the transfer will take place very shortly. The new training centre will contain all modern facilities for the accommodation and training of recruits, while provision has also been made for the holding of higher training courses. Excellent provision has been made for the recreational needs of trainees—there will be a sportsfield with two pitches, three handball alleys, one of which will be roofed and lighted and two basketball courts. A new gymnasium is being provided and there will be a separate large recreational hall. Reading rooms, lounges with facilities for light refreshments, and a billiards room will also be provided. A feature of the new training centre will be a covered-in heated swimming pool. This will ensure that the excellent work in connection with swimming and life-saving instruction to recruits at present being carried out in Dublin will be continued and extended in Templemore, and that in time the force will be in a position to make a very worthwhile contribution to reducing the toll of death by drowning. Further, as young Gardaí are encouraged to partake in the various activities of the community in which they live, it is reasonable to expect that the enthusiasm for swimming and lifesaving inculcated during training will lead them to give a hand on a voluntary basis to swimming clubs in the matter of training the young men and women of the country to become competent in swimming and lifesaving. This development will also be valuable in reducing deaths from drowning, and will, I feel sure, commend itself to all members of the House and the public generally. It is my intention also that this new pool at Templemore will be available to suitable organisations and groups in the surrounding counties for the promotion of swimming and life-saving.
Vote No. 25 is the Vote for prisons. The Estimate, at £316,720 net, is £33,480 more than last year's. The biggest increase, £25,221, is to be found in the subhead which deals with prison services, maintenance, etc.
Structural repairs and alterations to all the prison buildings, which are over 100 years old, have become necessary in order to provide institutions of reasonably modern standards. Consequently an extensive building programme has been planned, part of which is to be carried out this year at an estimated cost of £37,000. This year's works include structural alterations to existing buildings to provide for the segregation at work, exercise and recreation of prisoners selected for the corrective training unit at Mountjoy, and the establishment of a 20-bed hospital unit at Mountjoy for adult prisoners requiring psychiatric hospitalisation. I already mentioned in my speech on the Estimates for 1962-63 that the establishment of these units and the training of personnel to man them at Mountjoy Prison had been recommended by the inter-Departmental Committee set up to inquire into the methods for the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders. Under the same subhead provision has been made for the installation of new boilers at Portlaoise, an improved issue of clothing to male and female prisoners, improved accommodation and appointments for officers' quarters and replacement of bedding and furniture in prisoners' cells. Also, a modern electrical baking unit is being installed in Mountjoy in replacement of the old turf-fired ovens which have outlived their usefulness.
It will be noted that the provision for victualling has been increased by about £1,800. This additional amount is due in part to increased victualling costs but it is provided mainly because, at the time the Estimate was being prepared, trends in relation to the numbers of prisoners indicated an increase in the number of remand and trial cases that were being dealt with by sentence rather than by discharge, suspension or probation and, also, a tendency on the part of the courts to impose longer sentences. While it is anticipated, therefore, that the daily average prison population will go up it is not expected that the total number of persons committed in custody during this year will show any appreciable variation. Last year the total number of persons committed to prisons during the year was 2,438, 2,124 males and 304 females. The number of youths committed by the courts direct to St. Patrick's Institution was 325. The daily average population was 490, as against 447 in 1961, which was inclusive of an average of 142 juveniles in St. Patrick's.
The large scale building programme in hands and the changes in methods of treatment of offenders have, of course, called for the creation of additional posts of supervisory officers, medical orderlies, disciplinary and trades officers, and the necessary pay provision has been made in subhead A of the Vote. The sum of £2,000 in that subhead for additional assistance is intended to cover the appointment of two welfare officers as well as expenditure in relation to medical consultant services and other possible outlay arising out of the Committee's recommendations, to whose work I will now refer.
In connection with the re-examination of the penal system the House is aware that in September, 1962, I set up an inter-Departmental Committee with the following terms of reference:
To inquire into the present methods for the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders, giving attention, in particular, to the following matters:—
(a) juvenile delinquency
(b) the probation system
(c) the institutional treatment of offenders and their after-care,
and to recommend such changes in the law and practice as the Committee considers desirable and practicable.
The House would, I am sure, like to know something about what the committee has been doing and whether any changes have been made as a result of its deliberations. I have deliberately kept the committee a small body: it has a single representative from each of the four Government Departments concerned — Education, Health, Industry and Commerce and Justice— under the Chairmanship of the Secretary of my Department and staffed by a secretary also from my Department. The committee itself, and the working parties which it has formed, have had several discussions and interviews with members of the judiciary, the clergy, the Garda authorities, Governors of prisons and managers of institutions to which persons are sentenced or committed, probation officers, doctors including psychiatrists, sociologists, social workers, representatives of employers' organisations, of trade unions and of miscellaneous groups interested in youth welfare. Members of the Committee have inspected our prisons and Marlborough House, the remand home for boys, a sample number of industrial schools and the reformatory school for boys. Furthermore, they have visited the Borstal at Millisle and St. Patrick's Institution in Belfast. Again, members of the Committee have attended a United Nations seminar in Rome on the evaluation of methods used in the prevention of juvenile delinquency. All this activity has, I am glad to say, been accompanied by practical results.
The committee has not delayed in making recommendations in relation to day to day matters which could be rectified, and according as conclusions were reached it has put before me a number of recommendations which I have had no hesitation in approving. The following are among the principal recommendations which have already been implemented or are in course of implementation:—
(a) Recruit prison officers are now specially trained in the application of the rules and regulations and the training of all prison personnel in such matters as prisoner/ staff relationship, group-counselling and observation of inmates requiring special medical care. The training of a number of officers has already been completed and these courses are now an established part of the training of prison officers. The attendance of selected officers at study courses in other countries is being planned, and, in fact, following the award to him of a fellowship by the Council of Europe, the Governor of Mountjoy Prison has recently undergone a special course of study in Britain;
(b) Psychiatric treatment is now provided for inmates in need of special medical care. A 20-bed psychiatric unit has been opened in the hospital wing of Mountjoy Prison and is operating under the control of the Prison Medical Officer who is a qualified psychiatrist. Occupational therapy is provided for those under treatment and consultant services are available to the Prison Medical Officer when necessary;
(c) Additional medical orderlies are being appointed and are being trained in mental nursing. Four extra appointments have been made and all medical orderlies have undergone a training course conducted by the Prison Medical Officer;
(d) Special cellular accommodation, association cells with 3 beds, is being provided in St. Patrick's Institution for cases, such as epileptics, which require constant observation;
(e) A prison corrective training unit has been established for prisoners most likely to benefit from special training and who would, through teaching and guidance, be prepared and fitted for taking their places as normal members of society. This unit has been established in Mountjoy and at present there are just over 100 prisoners receiving special training there. The trainees are housed in a particular wing of the prison and arrangements are now in hand to secure their complete segregation from other prisoners. The training programme is a three-phase effort and advancement to the final phase, which includes pre-release treatment, is based on conduct, industry and personal effort towards reform. Apart from instruction in particular trades and occupations trainees are given opportunities to develop their individual talents. Private study is encouraged and hobby workshops for leisure time are provided. Debates are arranged and lectures given on subjects likely to assist in reform and rehabilitation. To date 15 prisoners have passed the examination for the first aid certificate of the Irish Red Cross Society, and, thanks to the voluntary services offered by members of the Garda Síochána Civil Defence Instruction Corps, a large number of trainees have received instruction in Civil Defence;
(f) A school has been established for backward prisoners. There is a high rate of illiteracy among prisoners, and the inter-Departmental Committee felt that unless something was done to remedy this position any efforts towards rehabilitation by way of training at a trade had little hope of achieving any measure of success. That school has now been established in Mountjoy. With the assistance and kind co-operation of the authorities of the Christian Brothers' Training School in Dublin, a prison officer, a former teacher, has been trained in the special teaching methods required for dealing with illiterates, semi-illiterates and backward adults. Tests are now given to prisoners on committal, and those found to be in need of instruction are graded into one of four classes and attend school until such time at least as they have reached a standard necessary to equip them for trade instructions. The school is having very satisfactory results. Indeed, I was very heartened to hear that many prisoners had asked to be given the opportunity to better their knowledge because I felt that those with family responsibilities would, on discharge, see to it that their children availed themselves of the facilities provided for their education;
(g) More effective teaching and training methods are being provided in St. Patrick's Institution. Here, too, the rate of illiteracy is very high. There have been consultations between my Department and the Department of Education and Comhairle Le Leas Oige and the new curriculum being planned for the Institution envisages the employment of the services of an educational psychologist and of qualified teachers and instructors, as well as the introduction of a Boys' Club curriculum during the evening recreational period;
(h) Some of the industries carried on in the prisons and St. Patrick's have been expanded and reorganised in order to give a greater value to an inmate's skill and experience and so improve the prospects of employment on discharge. The purchase of new equipment for the tailoring, shoemaking and carpentry classes is being arranged. Also the gardening activities in Mountjoy Prison are being extended to cover flower cultivation, propagation of shrubs, greenhouse work, lawn-laying etc., so as to provide training in the type of work done by nurserymen and suburban gardeners;
(i) Full-time Prison Welfare Officers are being appointed to advise prisoners on personal and domestic problems, to help in securing employment and to give after-discharge counsel and guidance. The preliminary steps have been taken towards this end and it is intended to appoint two such Officers, one of whom will be assigned to Mountjoy and the other to look after the needs of the inmates in St. Patrick's Institution and in Portlaoise and Limerick Prisons;
(j) A District Justice has been assigned on a permanent basis to the Children's Court and it is hoped that he will be able to make a close study of the problems of juvenile deliquency from the point of view of the judiciary;
(k) Additional official Probation Officers are being appointed in Dublin and there will be a widening of the scope of activities of the voluntary probation workers provided by societies and organisations interested in youth welfare and in the supervision of young persons discharged from reformatories and industrial schools. It is the Committee's view, which I accept, that outside Dublin the incidence of delinquency is not of such dimensions as to call for the appointment of full-time Probation Officers and that the work of supervision can be met, as in Cork and Limerick, by availing of the service of the voluntary probation worker. As regards Dublin, the Committee consider that greater use could be made of the voluntary services so willingly offered and that if this were done a State establishment of one Probation Administration Officer and six Probation Officers should suffice at present at any rate fully to meet requirements. I have seen no reason to disagree with this opinion and I have taken the necessary steps to bring the numbers up to the strength suggested. It will be part of the work of the Probation Administration Officer to co-operate with other bodies concerned with youth welfare, and especially with the police and their juvenile liaison officers to whom I shall refer in a moment, so that not only will the necessary coordination of effort be effected but also through the assembly of reports from many sources the fullest possible information will be available to the courts as a guide to the treatment appropriate for a particular offender;
(l) Arrangements have been made for greater participation by members of the Garda Síochána in the field of preventive justice particularly where juveniles are concerned. Many of the members of our Force are playing their part in keeping down juvenile delinquency by interesting themselves in the promotion and management of clubs for young people and I am encouraging this as much as possible. But apart from this commendable voluntary effort, the present policy, which calls for the co-operation of the injured party and of the parents, of "warning", instead of prosecuting, the young delinquent of previous good character has now been taken a stage further. In Dublin, a number of selected members of the Force have been appointed as Juvenile Officers, each of whom has the responsibility for all juvenile offences in a particular area and who acts as the liaison officer between the police and the other State and voluntary services concerned with the juveniles. This scheme has lately gone into operation and, if it proves successful, it will be applied in other centres of population.
(m) the question of obtaining alternative premises for St. Patrick's Institution is being pursued. Apart from their opinion that more spacious accommodation was needed to provide adequate elementary and technical education and outdoor recreational facilities, the Committee felt, and I heartily agree with them, that the siting of the Institution in close proximity to Mountjoy Prison was not the most desirable arrangement. This matter is being actively examined in consultation with the Commissioners of Public Works.
Other recommendations made by the Committee which are being attended to by my Department deal with such matters as the appointment of Prison After-Care Committees, the co-ordination of the various services concerned with crime and delinquency, viz., the police, the courts, the probation welfare and medical officers, the social workers, etc., and the wider use of the statutory powers for temporary release to enable prisoners who are nearing the end of their sentences to take up employment. This last matter is one in which I have not waited on the appointment of the Prison Welfare Officers and on other institutional arrangements, and I am happy to say that through the help of some of the present prison personnel quite a lot has already been done towards obtaining employment for prisoners who would shortly be due for release.
I am sure the House will agree with me that these recommendations are in full harmony with the Committee's "terms of reference" in that the changes proposed are reasonable and practicable. I expect the same sound approach to be reflected in the further proposals which the Committee will be making. The matters which are at present having the Committee's attention relate to the treatment of offenders in institutions which are not under my control, namely, reformatory and industrial schools and the Place of Detention at Marlborough House, Glasnevin, which is the only one of these institutions directly under State control. Marlborough House is the place of committal for youths dealt with by the Children's Courts and who have been committed in custody on remand or for trial or while awaiting transfer to a reformatory or an industrial school, and for those who have received a sentence of detention which, under existing law, cannot exceed one month. The short periods of custody served generally do not allow of any practical steps being taken with regard to the education and training of those detained. However, it is the intention to introduce legislation to provide that the Courts can impose sentences of detention up to 6 or 9 months. It is also intended to erect new premises for the Detention Home, to entrust the management of the home to the Brothers of the De La Salle Order and to provide for the teaching, training and care of the detainees by fully qualified personnel, including an educational psychologist. It is the view of the Committee that these desirable changes will lead to a wider use by the Children's Courts of the power of committal to detention, not only in relation to cases of the type which are dealt with to-day by fines or under the provisions of the Probation Act but also as an alternative to the exercise of the provisions for committal to reformatories and industrial schools.
It would be premature at this early stage to look for positive results but to judge by the enthusiasm and willingness to co-operate shown by all concerned in this work I have no doubt that the new approach will pay good dividends. But, as I have said before, a more important factor in the scheme of rehabilitation of offenders is the provision of suitable permanent employment on discharge and I would again appeal to all employers to do what they can when approached regarding the employment of these people. Here I wish to thank most sincerely those employers who have already responded to approaches and through whose co-operation prisoners who were being fully discharged or given temporary release were placed in remunerative employment. In expressing thanks to these employers, I am speaking, not alone for myself, but also for the prisoners concerned and their families and all those connected with prison management and administration—the Governors, Chaplains, Medical Officers, prison staff and the Prison Visiting Committees. The members of the Visiting Committees themselves deserve special mention for all that they do voluntarily, both in committee and by individual effort, to help in the rehabilitation of those in custody and to ensure that they are properly cared for during committal. The Committee's Reports for 1962 which appear in the Prisons Report for that year are ample evidence of their interest generally in their work and of their particular interest in the changes now being made in the penal system.
As well as those connected with the prison service, there are many others without whose voluntary efforts and assistance the achievement of the modern aims of prison administration would not be possible. I would like to pay grateful tribute to the Discharged Prisoners Aid Society, the Guild of St. Philip, St. Patrick's Welfare Association, the Irish Red Cross Society, the Garda Civil Defence Instructor Corps and other such organisations as well as the individual social workers for all that is being done by them, by way of grants, visits, lectures and courses with regard to the moral and temporal needs of prisoners and the promotion of good citizenship.
The next Estimate, No. 26, is that for the Courts of Justice. At £394,560 it is less than for the previous year by £18,100. However, Deputies who take these figures as an indication of a fall in expenditure will, I fear, be disappointed, as the apparent reduction has been brought about by a change in accounting arrangements. For the future, this Estimate will take credit for moneys, estimated at £22,000, received in respect of fines, which up to now were remitted direct to the Exchequer. There is, in fact, a modest increase in expenditure, due to a small increase in the number of stenographer and clerical staff and to some increase in travelling expenses.
In the case of the District Court, the operation of the reorganisation of districts carried out in 1961 continues to be kept under active review so as to ensure that the best possible service is provided for the public. When speaking on the subject of the District Court last year, I mentioned that I would like to see the justices having discussions amongst themselves on the general level of fines and other penalties with a view to the avoidance of undue divergencies in their judgments.
It is important that in so far as possible undue divergence in the penalties imposed by different courts for offences of the same character and gravity should be avoided and I hope that it may be possible to have this matter brought forward for discussion at the next statutory meeting of the district justices.
While on the subject of the courts, perhaps I should mention the Legal Diary, which is a sheet of the various cases listed for the courts in Dublin which is printed and circulated daily during term and which is of such importance to the legal profession and to the operation of the courts themselves. This publication has been in existence for over 100 years and had been published, with the aid of a State grant, by a well-known firm of Dublin publishers in a manner which gave the greatest satisfaction. However, with the development of their business it became no longer suitable for this firm to handle, so that during the year it became necessary for my Department to arrange for the transfer of the publication to another firm who are now continuing the good work of their predecessors, so that this valuable service continues. The transfer, I may say, was facilitated by the commendable co-operation afforded by the firm first referred to, in the handing over of blocks and other incidental material.
The retirement last August from the Circuit Court bench of Judge Binchy had the effect, under the law as it stands, of reducing by one the permissible number of permanent judges. As the volume of work, particularly in Dublin, made it impossible to carry on with one less, the President, on the advice of the Government, recently appointed a temporary Circuit Court judge. Proposals relating to the Circuit Court have been brought before the Dáil in the form of the Courts Bill, 1963.
Estimate No. 27 is that for the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds. This year's figure of £151,430 represents an increase of £7,470 over the previous year, attributable to some additional staff which are required for increased duties in the Land Registry. The work of both of these offices is showing a progressive increase in recent years. In the Land Registry, the number of dealings received for registration rose from 30,562 in the year ended 30th September, 1961, to 31,321 in the year ended 30th September, 1962, and again to 32,836 in the year ended 30th September, 1963; applications for discharge of equities rose from 1,815 to 1,830 to 2,100 for the same years and the number of applications for land certificates rose from 6,399 to 6,646 to 7,205.
Again in the case of the Registry of Deeds, the number of registrations rose from 23,710 in the year ended 30th September, 1961, to 23,729 in the year ended 30th September, 1962, and again to 26,653 in the year ended 30th September, 1963. Applications for searches rose from 5,979 to 6,142 to 6,458 in the same years.
The progress of work in the Land Registry over the past year was affected by difficulties apart from the increased volume of business. Vacancies which had existed because of difficulty in recruiting specialised staff had caused arrears in practically all branches. This was aggravated by a problem of space for office accommodation. The progressively increasing number of holdings registered requires additional space from year to year and there has also been an appreciable increase in the number of persons availing of the services of the Land Registry, whose attendance at the office to examine maps and other documents makes further demands on space. In consequence, an increase in office accommodation can no longer be avoided and arrangements are now well advanced towards an addition to the present building within the next year. Preparations have also been begun to double the size of the Land Registry premises in about 6 years' time when the effects of the new legislation on registration of titles will make this necessary. In the meantime spare office accommodation in the vicinity is being used as far as practicable. The state of work in the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds at present is regarded as generally satisfactory in all departments.
Finally, there is the Estimate for the Office of Charitable Donations and Bequests. Here, too, I am glad to be able to report steady progress during the past year in the various functions relating to the conduct and management of charities. During the period there was the regular addition to charitable trusts vested directly in the Commissioners, with a consequential increase in the nominal value of their funds to £1,885,380.
In conclusion, may I express my sincere thanks to all those members of voluntary committees and boards for which I have parliamentary responsibility, both present members and those who have retired during the past year? I should like to place on record how appreciative I am of the conscientious and able manner in which all concerned have carried out their tasks.