I thank the Chair for having given me the opportunity to raise this important matter and the Minister for taking the time to listen to what I have to say. I hope he will be as forthcoming and wholesome in his response as he has been to Deputy Browne in respect of the Bunclody area.
As spokesperson on justice for The Workers' Party may I place on record my delight at the verdict and release of the Birmingham Six in London today.
The matter I want to raise in the few moments available to me is one that is precise. I forwarded its substantive detail by way of letter to the Minister for Justice on 27 February last and welcome this opportunity to pursue the matter further in the House.
I understand that since 1989 there has been in practice a working diretive from the Garda Commissioner that members on mobile patrol, in cars or on motorbikes, must rely on what is known as the command and control system of centralised communication at Garda Headquarters using the radio system in or on their vehicles. The walkie-talkie radio we have observed so many gardaí use on our streets is not available to them while on mobile patrol.
I would never wish to endeavour to tell the Garda how they should do their work on a day-to-day basis; by and large they do an excellent job. But because this issue has been raised with me by a number of their members in Dublin I feel it incumbent on me to pursue it with the Minister and seek explanation. The walkie-talkies have been paid for out of taxpayers' money and are available in sufficient numbers to enable gardaí use them when on active service on mobile patrol. I understand a decision has been taken — though I am open to correction on this — that the management side of the Garda authorities are anxious to have all calls and monitoring of the work of their members centralised through the central command and control system and, thereby automatically logged on their central computer so that in time they will be able to monitor even more affectively what any individual member does while on mobile patrol. Nonetheless this practice denies a member a very useful and worthwhile piece of equipment.
In practice what happens is that a communication from an individual member to his or her station or other associate in the area must be directed by means of the radio system into the central command, then relayed on to the relevant police station who, in turn, relay the call or message to the other member seeking to be contacted if it is an onward call. That system can only operate in each of the main district areas in Dublin on one channel each. Consequently, if the channel is busy the member must wait in queue until a channel is free when they can make their call onward. That denies the opportunity of cross contact between members, one to one, avoiding this circuitous route through the central command and the police station. It denies the very useful operation of a member in a local area making direct contact with another member by using the walkie-talkie or denies the opportunity to the member of making direct contact with the garda station from which he or she operates in a co-ordinated way.
It seems an unnecessarily convoluted way of dealing with matters. I can understand fully the administrative and organisational basis on which the Commissioner is anxious that all matters be logged and recorded through the central system. However, I am advised that where the walkie-talkie is used on a one-to-one basis to the station from the member directly the officer in charge of the station can proceed to have those calls logged at an off-peak period into the central command and control system, thereby maintaining this comprehensive record of what goes on. That, succinctly, is the issue.
On behalf of the members who work on those patrols I am asking the Minister to approach the Commissioner to have this matter reviewed. An issue which is a cause of worry and irritation to the members should be reviewed and the status quo ante-1989 restored.
