I move:
That a sum not exceeding £18,576,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1987, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Justice, and of certain other services administered by that Office, and for payment of a grant-in-aid.
I propose that all the Votes for which I am responsible be taken together, but I shall endeavour to answer any questions on any particular Vote.
The total Estimate for all the Votes for which I am responsible is £373,668,000, a decrease of £9,781,000 or 2.6 per cent below the expenditure for these Votes in 1986. The Estimate is made up as follows: Vote 23 — Office of the Minister for Justice, £18,576,000; Vote 24 — Garda Síochána, £270,559,000; Vote 25 — Prisons, £66,305,000; Vote 26 — Courts, £11,535,000; Vote 27 — Land Registry and Registry of Deeds, £6,593,000; Vote 28 — Charitable Donations and Bequests, £100,000.
Pay and allowances etc., account for 81 per cent of the total Estimates and show an increase of 1 per cent compared with 1986.
The overall net Estimates provision for the Garda Síochána in 1987 is £270.559 million. Salaries, allowances and overtime account for over £204 million of this amount and the superannuation provision is £40.6 million. The other major items are £8.2 million for travelling, subsistence, compensation and miscellaneous expenses, £8 million for Garda transport, £7.6 million for the purchase, rental and leasing of radio, computer, office and other equipment, £4.97 million for postal and telecommunications services and £2.5 million for uniforms and accessories.
The provision for salaries and allowances takes account of the decisions announced in the budget in relation to the reduction in public service numbers. As has been the case in relation to all public services, measures have had to be taken this year to keep down expenditure in respect of the Garda Síochána. The Garda Síochána had been exempted from the earlier restrictions on recruitment to the public service, but it was not possible to provide for any exemptions this year. However, since the beginning of the year, 181 recruits have completed their initial training and have been assigned to stations and a further 45 recruits, to whom definite commitments of appointment had been made before the budget announcement of the proposed reduction in public service numbers, commenced their training on 12 May and will be due for assignment in October next.
It is not proposed to provide for any further recruitment to the Garda Síochána this year and I am not yet in a position to make any pronouncement about the holding of the next recruitment competition. Given these circumstances of unavoidable cutbacks in personnel, the overall objective must be to see that an efficient and effective Garda service is maintained within the resources available. This is a challenge to those entrusted with the management of the force and I am confident that it is one that they will meet successfully.
It is important to keep in mind that the number of gardaí is only one measure of the resources available to prevent and combat crime. There is need for a continuing review of the police needs of the community in the light of changing circumstances, and of the Garda response to these needs, to ensure that we are achieving the best use of resources. In assessing resources we must take into account the new technology which is being made available to the force and the greater efficiency and effectiveness which this makes possible.
In spite of the present economic situation progress is being maintained in making technological facilities available for the Garda Síochána. I understand that the new radio communication system is operating very effectively in all Garda stations outside of the Dublin metropolitan area. Work is well advanced on the installation of the new radio system for Dublin and it is planned that it will come into operation within the next few months. Also, a contract has been placed for the provision of a new computerised command and control system, at a cost of more than £2 million. This will complement the new Dublin metropolitan area radio system and when the integrated system is operational, hopefully in about a year's time, the Garda Síochána in Dublin will have one of the most advanced metropolitan police communications systems anywhere in the world.
The commissioning of the new computerised command and control centre will mark the completion of the second phase of the national communications network being provided for the Garda Síochána, the provincial radio network having been the first. The third phase is the linking of all the divisional systems and Garda headquarters by the provision of a microwave system for the entire country. Work is under way in relation to the provision of this system and, when it is completed, the Garda will have a completely independent nationwide communications system which will rank among the most modern police systems in the world.
In all £5 million is being provided in this year's Estimate to purchase outright all the equipment needed in the current year for the programme I have outlined. This will bring to more than £20 million the amount spent on the communications programme and I know you will see the continuing allocation of money to this project as demonstrating the Government's commitment to ensuring that the Garda continue to have the benefits of the most up-to-date technology and equipment.
Computerisation is another area where the Garda are being provided with modern facilities and the provision of £1.083 million in the 1987 Estimate is necessary to allow for further expansion in these facilities.
Training is of vital importance to the success of the Garda Síochána. I would like to take this opportunity to place on the record of the House my appreciation of the members of the Garda Training Committee for their dedication and commitment of time in producing their report on probationer training. This is a very comprehensive report and contains many valuable recommendations, some of them quite radical and involving matters of cost, conditions of service and availability of manpower which need to be considered very carefully. I am asking the Garda Commissioner and the Garda representative bodies and associations for their considered views on the report and I intend to take these views into account in deciding what will be implemented and the time scale involved.
There is an acceptance of the general need for cutbacks in expenditure on public services and, therefore, it is all the more important now that measures be taken to ensure that available resources are used as effectively as possible in providing essential public services. In this regard I intend to establish a Garda review group, as set out in the Programme for National Recovery, to examine Garda operational structures. I will be having discussions shortly with the Commissioner and with the Garda representative bodies and associations before deciding the form which the review group should take and the tasks which should be assigned to it.
The provision of £8 million for Garda transport is for the maintenance and running expenses of the Garda fleet and the purchase of replacement and additional vehicles. The reduction in the 1987 provision as compared with the expenditure in 1986 is due to the reduced cost of petrol and the fact that there was substantial expenditure on new vehicles for the fleet towards the end of 1986. The Garda authorities are keeping their replacement policy for Garda vehicles under continuous review in order to ensure that the safety and reliability of the fleet is kept at a very high standard while maintenance costs are kept as low as possible. The provision of £3.5 million for the purchase of Garda vehicles in 1987 is considered to be adequate to enable these objectives to be achieved.
The reduction in the provision for Garda overtime this year, as compared with last year, must be seen in the light of the current difficult situation in relation to the public finances generally and the need to continually assess the incidence of overtime working in the Garda Síochána. The allocation of £10 million should be adequate to maintain the same level of overtime as applied in the latter part of 1986. The Garda authorities constantly monitor the position very closely and they have taken and will continue to take measures to ensure that the funds available for overtime are managed in such a way that all essential policing needs will be met.
I want to strongly emphasise that the level of overtime provided for must not come to be regarded in itself as a real measure of Garda services available generally to the community. The vast bulk of Garda duties are performed in the course of ordinary, rostered, hours of duty and are not affected at all by overtime. Inevitably, because of the nature of Garda duties, situations arise where overtime is essential — for example to provide some type of special emergency service which obviously could not be met from normal resources or to allow some extra time or personnel to be allocated to the investigation of some particular crime. What we need to be careful to guard against is any suggestion that a very high incidence of overtime is a prerequisite for an effective Garda service or the only measure by which the level of Garda service to the community is to be judged.
Before I conclude my comments in relation to the Garda Síochána, I would like to say that I am very happy to see the members of the force in their new uniform. I think it does much for their appearance and I would like to think that it will do something for their morale. I know that the new uniform has been the subject of much favourable comment and I pay tribute to all those who were involved in the quite complex and onerous task of introducing a change of uniform for a Force of almost 11,500 members.
Over the past few years crime has seldom been out of the news. It is one of the major issues which our society has had to face. Let me refer to some statistics which will illustrate how the scale of the problem had changed over the years. In 1970, 30,756 indictable crimes were recorded by the Garda. By 1980 the figure had risen to 72,782 — an increase of some 136 per cent — and the 1984 figure was 99,727. It is encouraging to note that in recent years the situation has changed for the better. Over the three year period 1984-1986 there was a reduction of approximately 16 per cent in the level of indictable crime recorded by the Garda and I understand that the preliminary indications are that this downward trend is being maintained so far this year. This, of course, is not to suggest that we can become blasé about the crime situation. One crime is one too many. We must always be on our guard and must not relax our efforts in the fight against crime.
A disturbing feature of crime in recent times has been the increase in armed raids, and the emergence of increasing levels of violence in our society. I am aware that the Garda authorities have taken special measures to deal with these problems and I am confident that their efforts will bring about an improvement in the situation. It is worth mentioning also that specific measures to deal with particular problems such as so-called "joy-riding", attacks on the elderly and drug abuse have met with a marked measure of success.
This welcome improvement could not have been achieved without the allocation of the necessary resources to tackle the problem. It is important that people realise the magnitude of the expenditure provided in my Department's Estimates for services directly related to crime — the Garda, the criminal courts, the prisons, probation and welfare service, criminal injuries compensation, etc. In addition to the £350 million, approximately, which is being provided in my Department's Estimates for such services this year, a total of some £900 million has been spent in these areas over the past three years. While it is evident, therefore, that crime is an enormous expense to the public purse, the clear indications are that allocation of the necessary financial resources is having the desired effect and that we are moving towards producing the sort of society which we all hope to see — where safety and security will be further restored for people in their homes, in their work place, and on the street, and where life and property will be protected.
It is well recognised by all concerned in the fight against crime that large expenditure on resources of manpower and equipment alone — crucial as they undoubtedly are — will not produce the desired result. They must be allied to the full and whole-hearted support of the public. In particular, crime prevention is something at which we must all work and not merely leave the matter to the Garda. The evidence is that many crimes are committed by people responding to opportunities for crime. For instance, in the 1985 larcenies from unattended vehicles represented approximately one-sixth of all indictable offences recorded by the Garda. It goes without saying that greater vigilance by car owners in safeguarding their property would greatly improve the situation. The primary responsibility for the protection of property rests with the owner and we can all help to safeguard our property by taking relatively simple crime precautions at comparatively little expense, for example, ensuring that our windows and doors are securely locked when we leave our homes and cars unattended; ensuring that no items of property are left visible in cars; and ensuring that we do not carry large amounts of money on our person. It is vitally important that we do not underestimate the part which crime prevention measures of this nature can play in defeating the burglar, thief and vandal.
It is appropriate for me to refer in this context to the neighbourhood watch scheme which provides a structured mechanism whereby the public can play a part in combating crime. The fact that there are now some 389 schemes involving some 106,000 households in operation throughout the country is a clear indication of the willingness of ordinary members of the public to play their part.
At present the existing schemes are being evaluated and, while it would be premature at this stage to come to any definite conclusion as to the effect neighbourhood watch is having on the incidence of crime, the preliminary indications certainly look good. Apart altogether from the decrease in the overall level of serious crime, I understand that there has been, for instance, a substantial reduction in the number of burglaries at private dwellings over the past two years. This particular crime is one which causes a great deal of financial loss and personal distress to many people. It is heartening to note that the incidence of such crime is decreasing and my earnest hope would be that, with the continued support of the community at large, the Garda can continue with further success the fight against the criminal.
Prisons is another major area of expenditure for which I have responsibility. A net total of £66.305 million is being allocated to this area, the main elements of which are £39.2 million in respect of salaries, wages and allowances and £13.1 million for prison capital.
There has been some public comment of late about the implications of this year's allocations for staffing levels within the prison system. I am sure the House will appreciate that it would be inappropriate for me to discuss detailed manning arrangements at the various prisons. What I can say, however, is that I believe that any objective examination would show that the provision of financial resources to the prison service — particularly in the area of staff costs — has been maintained at a very high level. It is the case that the overtime figure for this year is some £2.5 million down on last year's outturn. However, that figure, by itself, gives a very incomplete picture because over the past year or so almost 200 additional staff have been recruited to the prison service. In the circumstances I think the House will accept that the £11 million allocated for overtime expenditure this year is more than reasonable given the constraints which have applied in all areas of public expenditure.
In relation to overtime generally in the prison service I have already made it clear that I am not happy with the level of dependence on overtime working inherent in the operation of the prison system. This is an area which is being examined at present by a study group comprised of officials from my Department and the Department of Finance. Given the general undesirability of high levels of overtime working this is an area I intend to pay special attention to.
The substantial provision which is being made for the Prisons Vote should be seen in the context of the huge increase which has taken place in recent years in the numbers in custody. Only five years ago the daily average prison population was about 1,200. At present about 1,960 offenders are being accommodated and this increase, in circumstances where no substantial new prison accommodation was provided, has clearly placed severe pressure on prison accommodation.
Clearly the increase in the number of committals and in the length of sentences being imposed by the courts has only been coped with through a great degree of resourcefulness on the part of staff and management of the prison service. I am sure the House will join with me in acknowledging the efforts which have been — and are continuing to be — made in this regard.
It is in this context of the pressure on existing custodial accommodation that I believe the House will welcome the provision made this year for the prisons capital programme. The allocation of £13.1 million for capital expenditure on prisons and places of detention indicates the Government's commitment to continuing the progress made towards rectifying the shortage of custodial accommodation.
A sum of £3.1 million of the Estimate relates to expenditure which may be incurred as a consequence of the proposed takeover, by my Department, of a new unit in the grounds of the Central Mental Hospital. Most of the balance of the money being made available ensures that work continues at full momentum on the new place of detention for 320 young male offenders at Wheatfield — a project which I initiated when Minister for Justice previously. This is the first phase of the Wheatfield Project. Construction and servicing of the custodial buildings is well advanced, within budget, and is expected to be finished by the end of 1987. When operational in 1988 it will enable the present, far from suitable, accommodation for young male offenders in St. Patrick's Institution to be vacated and subsequently adapted for adult prisoners to reduce pressure on existing accommodation for adults, particularly in Mountjoy.
The second phase of Wheatfield is a prison for 144. The site has already been developed, serviced and perimetered. Design of the custodial buildings is complete and the stage has been reached where tenders could be invited and a contract placed. The question of proceeding with this, or other projects to provide additional custodial accommodation on completion of the place of detention at Wheatfield will be considered in the context of next year's allocations. Apart from Wheatfield, work related to the upgrading of security and improvement of facilities generally is in progress mainly in Arbour Hill, Cork, Limerick and Mountjoy.
While there is no doubt that, looked at purely from the point of view of prison administration, the numbers in custody at present are undesirably high, I think it right to point out that this is a problem facing many other Administrations, particularly in Western Europe. Thankfully, it remains the case that we have been able to deal with this problem so far without resorting to the type of extreme measures which have been put in place elsewhere. For example, it is not uncommon in some other countries for offenders to be locked in their cells 23 hours a day, sometimes two or three to a cell. That is a type of situation which we have not countenanced here and I believe that the allocations being made this year in the Prisons Vote will be seen as reflecting a determination to ensure that the régimes available for offenders are maintained at as high a level as possible.
While it is inevitable that, in consixt sidering the Prisons Vote, emphasis is given to the provision and operation of custodial accommodation I would remind the House that I am also concerned with the question of the use of alternatives to custody. In this connection I am happy to assure the House that the scheme of community service which I instigated is working well and, indeed, has proved to be the most useful development in the field of custodial alternatives for many years.
As well as making non-custodial sanctions available to the courts, the Government are committed, even at a time of severe financial constraints, to assisting selected projects in the community which are geared to providing support for offenders on release from custody and for young people at risk of getting involved with crime. Many of these projects are initiated and run by community groups in association with the Probation and Welfare Service of my Department. Several hostels, workshops and resource centres have been set up around the country to provide such supports which I believe are of great benefit to the offenders participating in these projects and, ultimately, to the community itself. My Department provide 100 per cent grants towards the capital costs of establishing such projects and up to 90 per cent in grants towards their running costs. I am glad that it proved possible this year to provide almost £1.5 million for expenditure on this area.
Before leaving the Prisons Vote I would like to confirm to the House that I am at present considering the recommendations made by the Committee of Inquiry into the Penal System, under the distinguished chairmanship of Dr. T. K. Whitaker. I have already indicated publicly my belief that the committee's report is a very valuable document in the context of the formulation of penal policy generally and I would like, on the record of this House, to pay tribute to all those who served on the committee.
I turn now to the Courts Vote where I have broad responsibility for providing the services necessary to enable the courts to function effectively. My responsibility extends to the promotion of legislation relating to the establishment, jurisdiction and functioning of the various courts and the making of statutory orders under existing legislation.
Most Deputies will be aware of difficulties arising in regard to the suitability and adequacy of court-house accommodation. I am afraid that I still find it necessary to emphasise that responsibility for the provision and maintenance of court accommodation, with certain exceptions in the Dublin area, is vested by law in local authorities. It is apparent that pressures on local finances have affected the level of commitment of some local authorities to maintain decent court venues.
There have, of course, been improvements in recent years in a number of areas. At present, the restoration of Cavan court-house is under way and should be completed by the end of next year. I understand that Leitrim County Council are considering the possibility of providing a new court-house at Carrick-on-Shannon and that other local authorities are dealing with less extensive works on an ongoing basis. Even though local authority finances are restricted, in common with most other services, I see no reason why these buildings, which are essential if justice is to be dispensed locally, should not be kept in a decent state of repair.
In Dublin within the past few years nine additional courtrooms have been made available by the Office of Public Works for the various courts. A new courts office block at Inns Quay has just been completed and will be occupied shortly. The project will make it possible to provide at least four more courtrooms in the Four Courts complex. This should solve the courtroom accommodation problem for the higher courts in Dublin for some time to come.
Accommodation for the Metropolitan Children's Court has been a priority for a number of years. New temporary accommodation has been available since 1985 at Smithfield. Construction of a new purpose-built Children's Court in the same locality started in April of last year and this should be available by next autumn. The new Children's Court complex will have a wide range of facilities and should be up to the highest standards for a court of this kind.
The lack of adequate facilities such as waiting room, toilets, consultation rooms, solicitors' room and judges chambers at the Metropolitan District Court-house, Chancery Street, continues to attract complaints from staff, public, practitioners and judges. The design of the existing building and the very restricted site present major obstacles to any worthwhile improvements, but the Office of Public Works are currently looking at the problem to see what improvements might be possible. Because of the physical difficulties and the fact that these courts are in use on six days per week the implementation of any significant improvement would inevitably take some time and be very costly. In the meantime, I am arranging for the organisation of District Court criminal business in the centre city courts to be examined to see if better use can be made of available venues and if procedures can be streamlined.
As far as staffing is concerned, court offices have had to cope with staff shortages arising from the restrictions on recruitment in common with most other State services. In some cases lack of staff combined with increasing workloads has given rise to problems. The extension of computerisation in court offices will help to offset the worst effects of staff shortages. The computer system in the Dublin Metropolitan District Court has been operating efficiently for some years. It has proved most successful in processing a large volume of summonses and warrants. Last year the number of summonses processed exceeded half a million. The next development in computerisation is a pilot project in the Limerick City District Court office which is now being installed. Further expansion of the system to other offices in the provinces will take place as resources allow in the light of the results of the Limerick project. In addition, other operations in Circuit and High Court offices are being studied to determine to what extent these offices would benefit from computerisation.
Problems arose during 1986 in relation to the issue of summonses following judgments of the High and Supreme Courts. The Courts (No. 3) Act, 1986 was enacted to deal specifically with the defects in the summonses procedure identified by the Supreme Court. The Act is operating satisfactorily for the most part. Some problems which have arisen should be resolved soon when the results of a number of test cases awaiting hearing in the High Court are available. As I indicated in a response to a recent parliamentary question, the question of amending legislation, if any, would arise only when these test cases have been disposed of.
In two recent Supreme Court judgements, the latest in December last, serious doubts were raised about the constitutional competence of peace commissioners to remand prisoners in custody or on bail. I was advised that in the light of the Supreme Court's comments the continued exercise of such functions by peace commissioners could be successfully challenged and, as a consequence, they have ceased to be used for remand prisoners. Instead, prisoners are brought before the District Court for adjudication on the issue of bail or remand in custody. After normal court hours this means that a special sitting of the District Court, presided over by a District Justice, is held. One effect has been that, since April, a court sits virtually every night in Dublin, weekends included. I have already set in train a study in relation to the establishment of a permanent night court in Dublin and the experience gained in operating these courts will be very useful in that regard.
Another area of District Court operations which is under scrutiny is the enforcement of District Court fines. While some improvement was achieved in 1986 quite a lot remains to be done if fines are to be enforced at a high level of efficiency and respect for the law maintained. Further computerisation will be a help. My Department are at present examining a survey by a systems analyst into this whole problem and it is hoped that this study will assist in deciding on action to be taken for the future.
So far as the other courts are concerned, the main complaint is the delay in hearing High Court civil actions. The time taken to dispose of High Court civil actions averages about 12 months and in Cork the delay has been as high as 30 months. The President of the High Court has been arranging extra sittings in Cork to reduce the arrears and an improvement is expected by the end of the year. There are no delays in the hearing of nonjury common law actions. Circuit Court business in Cork has increased substantially since 1979 and this inevitably has affected the speed with which cases have been disposed of. The President of the Circuit Court is doing all that is possible to reduce arrears and has assigned a second judge to Cork on a full-time basis. There are also delays at a number of other Circuit Court venues. In an effort to improve the situation, two temporary Circuit Court judges were appointed earlier this year.
When considering this whole question of delays it should be borne in mind that they are not all related to the availability of court sittings. In many instances cases are not pressed forward by legal advisers in the interest of their clients, e.g., while awaiting final medical assessment of the likely long term effects of accident injuries.
The 1987 provision for civil legal aid is £1.745 million. Although this allocation will not, of itself, allow for any further expansion of the Legal Aid Board's services the board have been able to open four additional law centres in recent times at Cork, a second centre, Tralee, Athlone and Tallaght, County Dublin. These centres will be financed until the end of 1987 from the moneys available for civil legal aid under a provision in the Funds of Suitors Act, 1984.
Expenditure on criminal legal aid has evened out in recent years after an earlier period of rapid increase. The cost of running the scheme in 1987 is estimated to be £2.132 million which is marginally higher than last year. The net Exchequer expenditure on the scheme in 1987 will amount to about £1.4 million when value added tax at 25 per cent and retention tax at 35 per cent are recouped to the State.
All I propose to say on the subject of law reform is that legislative proposals which I have under consideration will be brought to the notice of the House in the usual way as soon as I am in a position to announce them. Deputies will be aware that my comment in this regard stems from the fact that it is not within the rules of this House to advocate legislation in the course of an Estimates debate.
Vote 27 — Land Registry and Registry of Deeds — is another Vote for which I have responsibility. The registries are labour-intensive organisations with nearly 90 per cent of their total voted expenditure being accounted for by salaries.
I am conscious of the fact that there are long delays at present in the registration work of the Land Registry. The problem is that the staffing restrictions applicable throughout the public sector have, in the case of the Registry, been accompanied by substantially increased workloads and, consequently, it has not been possible to avoid a deterioration in the service provided by the Registry.
The longest delays have been in the category of first registration including applications, usually known as section 49 applications, for establishment of title acquired by possession. It has been possible to carry out a reorganisation recently involving a redistribution of work which is already proving effective in reducing delays in this category. Every effort is being made through a greater use of technology and otherwise to keep delays in other categories of work to the minimum possible.
A programme of computerising the Land Registry folios has been in operation since December 1982. Regrettably progress has been disappointingly slow because only a small number of the staff required for the enormous amount of preparatory work involved in the programme can be spared from the day-to-day work of the registry. Modern technology has a lot to offer both to the Land Registry and the Registry of Deeds of the vast amount of documentation being handled daily as well as being stored and needing to be retrieved on an occasional basis. Word processors and personal computers are being used in the Land Registry as much as possible and further use will be made of them wherever this can be done within existing financial constraints. The feasibility of computerising the registry's maps is being studied at present. Arrangements will also be made as soon as possible to make a start on computerising some of the Registry of Deeds documentation.
I am keeping the situation in both registries under review and when conditions improve I will consider what further steps can be taken to reduce avoidable delays and ideally eliminate them altogether.
As six Votes for which I have responsibility cover a wide range of topics I have not attempted to be exhaustive in my remarks. I will, of course, endeavour to reply to any points raised in the debate.
