I move:
That a sum not exceeding £18,408,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1989, 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. In the short time available to me for reply I shall endeavour to answer any questions put to me on any particular Vote.
The total Estimate for all Votes for which I am responsible is £376,200,000, an increase of £13,208,000 or 3.6 per cent above the expenditure for these Votes in 1988. The Estimate is made up as follows:
Vote 19 — Office of the Minister for Justice £18,408,000;
Vote 20 — Garda Síochána £278,634,000;
Vote 21 — Prisons £59,573,000;
Vote 22 — Courts £11,670,000;
Vote 23 — Land Registry and Registry of Deeds £7,806,000;
Vote 24 — Charitable Donations and Bequests £109,000.
Pay and allowances etc., account for 84 per cent of the total estimates and show an increase of 6.8 per cent compared with 1988.
The net provision for the Garda Síochána Vote for 1989 is £278,634,000. Salaries, allowances and overtime account for some £211 million of this amount and the superannuation provision is £44.6 million. The other major items are £9.36 million for travelling, subsistence, compensation and miscellaneous expenses; £6.84 million for Garda transport; £5.12 million for postal and telecommunications services; £3.69 million for the purchase, rental and maintenance of radio, computer, office and other equipment; £3.56 million for station services and £1.75 million for uniforms and accessories.
The overall financial allocation for the Garda Síochána this year represents an increase of 2 per cent over the 1988 allocation. While some individual subheads show a reduction as compared with last year, I am satisfied that the allocations made are adequate to ensure that the community continues to be provided with an efficient Garda service. The Garda Síochána will continue to be provided with the resources they need to carry out their task of maintaining law and order which, of course, is of fundamental importance to every law-abiding person who wants to live in an environment of peace and security. Such an environment is equally important from the point of view of our national economic development.
Turning to the provisions under the individual subheads of the Vote, the provision for salaries and allowances takes account of the modified way in which the restrictions that apply to public service numbers generally have been applied to the Garda Síochána. The Government have approved the filling of promotional vacancies that arise in the force on a more generous basis than applies in the public service and the Government have further shown their commitment to ensuring that the Garda Síochána have the resources they need, by their decision, at a time of great financial restraint, to recruit 1,000 Garda trainees over the three-year period 1989 to 1991.
As has been previously indicated, the intention is that a total of 1,000 appointments will be made up to 1991 from the current recruitment competition. At least 340 Garda trainees will be recruited during this year. The first intake of 87 successful candidates commenced training in the Garda College, Templemore at the beginning of April and the second intake commenced training in the last week in June. Further intakes of 90 or so will be called for training at regular three-monthly intervals. Because of the new entry procedures which include higher educational qualifications, intelligence testing and a competitive interview, I have every confidence that the trainees taken on from this competition will be of the highest quality and will contribute in a significant way to the performance and good reputation of the force.
The provision for salaries represents an increase of 2 per cent on the 1988 allocation and takes account of the resumption of Garda recruitment this year. The provision this year for superannuation also shows an increase over the 1988 allocation, of the order of 7 per cent and this is accounted for by an increase in the number of pensioners, as well as increases in pension rates in line with Garda pay. Reductions have been made in the provisions for overtime, uniforms and transport. The provision for overtime shows a reduction of £650,000 on the 1988 allocation and is considered adequate to meet requirements. The provision for uniforms, £1.75 million, shows a reduction of £500,000 over the 1988 allocation. This reduction reflects the reduced demand for uniforms now that the period of high expenditure which was necessary to outfit the Garda Síochána in their new uniforms, has passed. The provision of £6.84 million for Garda transport reflects a reduction of £500,000 for the purchase of vehicles and reduced operating and other expenses, including the abolition of an annual payment to the Department of the Environment in lieu of motor tax. I am satisfied that these savings can be achieved without any serious effect on Garda operational efficiency.
The importance of ensuring that the Garda are provided with the benefits of all appropriate technological advances is fully appreciated and provision is made in the Estimates for funding developments in the Garda radio and computer areas. The radio network is operating very successfully in the 18 Garda divisions outside the Dublin Metropolitan Area, and the DMA system, incorporating a most modern computerised command and control system has been installed and is currently being brought into full use — it will be fully operational within the coming few weeks. Further development of the system is planned and financial provision has been made for this.
The Garda also have other modern computer systems at their disposal which are proving to be of great assistance to them in the investigation of crime, the checking out of stolen or suspect vehicles etc. All Garda divisional headquarters and other major Garda stations are linked into the Garda computer network and financial provision has been made this year to enable a further number of stations to be linked into the system and also to enable the system to be enhanced by the purchase of some additional computer hardware.
I have mentioned the task that we entrust to the Garda Síochána — the prevention and detection of crime and how important their success in carrying out that task is, to the wellbeing of each one of us. We have enjoyed a few years in which levels of reported crime actually decreased but 1988 figures indicate that levels rose again in that year. Indications so far this year are that crime figures may be going down again but it is not possible at this stage to be sure that this is a definite continuing downward trend. It is a matter for which we must all take our share of responsibility — the task of crime prevention is one that, in all fairness, we cannot expect the Garda to carry out on their own. In addition to the wide range of ordinary crime which they have to deal with, they have to contend also with the extremely serious security situation which continues to affect our country. It is in everybody's interest that we should assist the Garda in every possible way, with the detection of crime when we can help in any way with Garda inquiries but particularly, I feel, in the area of crime prevention. A crime prevented does not need to be detected.
The neighbourhood watch programme provides a means through which the public at large can work in partnership with the Garda in the interest of preventing crime. This programme has already won widespread acceptance among the general public. To date there are 783 schemes in operation throughout the whole country involving some 174,000 households. The Garda authorities consider that these schemes have had a deterrent effect on criminal activity, have improved co-operation and relationships between the public and the Garda, have increased awareness of home security and have helped to a considerable extent to provide reassurance for many people, particularly those living alone, who were experiencing fear and anxiety as a consequence of the crime levels in their locality.
I want to mention also the community alert scheme which is the rural equivalent of neighbourhood watch. This scheme was initiated by Muintir na Tíre in co-operation with the Garda Síochána to combat the problem of attacks on the elderly in rural areas. Again this involves the local community working in close liasion with the Garda to identify elderly people who may be at risk, to visit them and also to be alert to any suspicious happenings in the neighbourhood. I know the outrage that I feel when I hear of cowardly and often brutal attacks on elderly and isolated members of our society and I know that this outrage is very widespread. Muintir na Tíre and the Garda have devised an excellent scheme to help elderly people who may be or who feel that they are at risk and I would urge anyone who can do so, to participate in these schemes and help to make our country a safer place for our elderly neighbours.
Another important community-based initiative has been introduced in recent months in a number of Dublin areas. This is the community policing scheme. Such schemes are now operating in eight areas of the Dublin northern division as well as in Leixlip, Bray, Loughlinstown/ Bally-brack and Tallaght, involving 16 stations in all. These schemes involve the assignment of designated members to full-time patrol duties in a specific area with the intention that these members should become personally identifiable as the local Garda presence in their assigned area. They are the link between the local community and the Garda Síochána generally, they identify with the local community and help to build up good Garda-community relations in the interest of preventing and controlling local crime and vandalism.
I have no doubt that all of these schemes have the effect of building a strong and valuable partnership between the Garda and the public and are of valuable assistance to the Garda in getting on top of our crime problem. They embody the idea of partnership between the community and the Garda in the preservation of law and order. It is an idea which I very heartily welcome and one which I as Minister for Justice intend to positively support.
Before I leave the Garda Vote I want to say that it includes the costs associated with the dispatch of a Garda contingent to serve with the United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia. Thirty-five members left for Namibia on 14 April and a further 15 will travel there in a few weeks. I am sure that the Members of the House will join with me in wishing them every success in their mission. We can be confident that the men and women of the Garda contingent will represent their country with honour and perform their duties in Namibia in a manner which will reflect credit on themselves and on the Force to which they belong.
I now turn to the Prisons Vote. The total allocation in the 1989 Estimates for salaries, wages and allowances is £41.878 million. This represents a 10 per cent increase over the Estimate for 1988. This substantial increase reflects the cost of additional staff required to operate new accommodation at Fort Mitchel, Spike Island and at Wheatfield, Clondalkin as well as additional costs arising in 1989 as a consequence of the public service pay agreement.
Deputies will be aware that pressure on prison accommodation has not shown any signs of easing off in the recent past. I am glad to inform the House, therefore, that this year's Estimates will enable 210 additional prison places to be brought into use, 50 places in Fort Mitchel and 160 places in Wheatfield.
The additional accommodation at Fort Mitchel has already been largely occupied. In relation to Wheatfield the House will be aware that this new place of detention was brought into use last month and its operation will be extended on a phased basis over the coming months.
The opening of Wheatfield will not, however, enable me to close any of our older institutions — the pressure on accommodation is such that they will simply have to continue in operation and to be maintained and upgraded as necessary. A sum of £4.28 million was allocated for this purpose in 1989 and work related to the upgrading of security and improvement of facilities generally is being undertaken in Mountjoy, Portlaoise, Cork, Arbour Hill, Loughan House and Shanganagh Castle.
In recent years significant progress has been made in bringing prisons' overtime expenditure under control. In 1986, the amount spent on overtime was £13.4 million and by last year expenditure was reduced to £6.3 million. The provision for overtime in the 1989 Estimates allows a similar amount of overtime to be worked as in 1988.
While the emphasis of what I have said in relation to this Estimate has been on the operation of the prison system, alternatives to imprisonment play a very important role in the overall penal system. The Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act, provides that offenders can be required by the courts to perform a specified number of hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community. The work is performed under the general supervision of the probation and welfare service of my Department. The scheme of community service orders is being widely implemented by the courts. To date, over 4,000 orders have been made in respect of offenders who would — under the terms of the legislation — otherwise have received a custodial sentence on conviction. An allocation of £208,000 is provided in the Estimates in relation to certain expenses incurred in the operation of community service orders. Again this sum does not include the cost of probation and welfare service staff involved in operating the scheme.
Another area worthy of mention is the establishment of probation and welfare projects by voluntary committees in association with the probation and welfare service. Several probation hostels, workshops and resource centres have been set up and are intended to help young people from getting into trouble with the law and to help prisoners on release from prison. My Department provide grants towards the capital cost of establishing such projects and towards their running costs. The total provision under this heading in this year's Estimate is £1,385,000.
The court system also comes within the scope of the Justice group of Votes. The Minister for Justice has broad responsibility for providing the services necessary to enable the courts to function effectively.
My predecessor had occasion in the House last November to talk about District Court venues. The fact is, that bearing in mind modern means of transport and communication, we must seriously question the need to have as many as 250 locations for district courts throughout the country. They are expensive to maintain; indeed, so expensive in some cases that local authorities cannot find the money to maintain them. The result is an array of courthouses whose poor condition is a disgrace. The high number of venues is also wasteful of judicial and staff time. If the time spent in some of them were diverted into more central locations I have no doubt that the quality and efficiency of the administration of justice would be greatly improved. I am, therefore, having a departmental review carried out to help in determining to what extent the number of venues can be reduced. I expect the review to be completed shortly and I would hope to announce my proposals soon afterwards.
The 1989 Exchequer provision for the provision of legal services under the scheme of civil legal aid and advice is £1,738 million. While this allocation will not allow for any expansion of the Legal Aid Board's services in 1989, the board will be able to maintain its existing 12 full-time and 19 part-time law centres in operation throughout the year. The total cost of running the criminal legal aid scheme in 1989 is estimated to be £2.5 million including value added tax and retention tax, which are recouped to the Exchequer.
On the topic of law reform, because of the limited time and because I want to give more time to it on another occasion, I want only to say that I propose to move the restoration to the Order Paper of a number of Bills that were before the 25th Dáil on its dissolution. These are the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Bill, the Prohibition of Incitement to Racial, Religious or National Hatred Bill, the Video Recordings Bill and the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Bill. Other legislative proposals which I will be bringing forward will be announced by me in the normal way.
The Estimates include a provision of £204,000 for the first full year of operation of the office of the Data Protection Commissioner. The office of the commissioner was created under the Data Protection Act, 1988, which seeks to protect the privacy of individuals about whom personal data are kept without excessive regulation or the imposition of undue burdens on industry and business. The Act is now fully operational.
On Vote 23 — Land Registry and Registry of Deeds — another Vote for which I have responsibility, the continued increase in property transactions combined with the staffing restrictions common to the entire public sector continue to have an impact on the arrears situation in the Land Registry. There was, nonetheless, only a marginal reduction in output in 1988. The indication is that 1989 will see a further increase in workload and as an interim measure a number of clerical staff are being assigned immediately to the Land Registry. Work is also currently under way to identify other staffing needs. A computerisation programme is in operation and progress is being made in this area.
I am aware that the services provided by these registries are essential to the public interest and that very serious delays are occurring in the provision of these services. I intend as a matter of priority to examine the situation fully to see what can be done to remedy it.
As the House is aware, the Justice group of Votes covers a very wide area. It would not be possible to comment on all of these areas when moving the Votes. Deputies are, of course, free to refer to any of these areas during the debate and consideration will be given to all points mentioned. In so far as time allows, I will deal with points raised in the course of my reply to the debate. Otherwise, I will take note of them and act on the points I agree with.
