I move:
That a sum not exceeding £152,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1992, for the salaries and expenses of the Charitable Donations and Bequests Office.
I propose to take all the Votes for which I am responsible together, but I shall endeavour to answer questions on any particular Vote.
The total estimate for all the Votes for which I am responsible is £474,039,000, an increase of £22,657,000 or 5 per cent above the expenditure for these Votes in 1991. Pay and allowances etc. account for 84.1 per cent of the total Estimates and show an increase of 8.8 per cent compared with 1991.
I will commence with the Garda Síochána Vote. The 1992 Estimates provision for this Vote is sufficient to ensure that the Garda Síochána have the necessary resources to preserve law and order throughout our country. To put our spending in this respect in perspective I can tell the House that the provision in this year's Estimate for the Garda Síochána of £341,260,000 represents an outlay by the State on policing this year of almost £100 for every man, woman and child in this country. There is another key statistic I would like to cite at the outset which is that we have one garda for every 323 people. This is one of the best police-population ratios in Western Europe.
My priority in the Garda area is to obtain the maximum value for the Irish people from this colossal investment in policing. I intend to maintain the present pace of recruitment, to increase civilianisation in the force and to facilitate in every way I can better law enforcement by the men and women of the Garda Síochána. Whether it be subversive, ordinary, juvenile or complex white-collar crime, I intend to ensure that the Garda have the resources necessary to deal with the challenges they must face on a daily basis.
The first batch of the current round of the 1,000 recruits to be taken on commenced training in the Garda college in Templemore in April this year. This new recruitment campaign together with the temporary extension up to the end of this year, of the retirement age from 57 to 60 will ensure that the strength of the force is kept to a maximum. Indeed its strength at the end of this year will, at almost 11,000, be close to an all-time high for the membership of the Garda Síochána.
There are about 585 civilian clerical staff employed in the Garda Síochána at present. This is the highest number ever. A further 105 civilian staff will be recruited this year and they will be assigned to posts which will result in an equivalent increase in the Garda operational strength.
The current recruitment campaign together with the policy of increased civilianisation will result in a greater physical presence of gardaí on Irish roads and streets, a result I am sure that the public will be pleased to see.
I welcome the changes which are occurring at present within the Garda Síochána to provide a more community-based policing service to the public. I am, of course, referring to such initiatives as community policing and the rural policing scheme which was introduced last September in 14 Garda districts. The overall response of the general public to these initiatives has been extraordinarily favourable. Additional clerical staff and resources have been provided to those areas involved in the rural policing scheme to ensure a greater service to the public, particularly in remote areas. Gardaí involved in the scheme now have more time at their disposal to engage in crime prevention strategies including visiting schools and the elderly living alone. This scheme is being continuously monitored by the Garda authorities who are very satisfied with its operation to date. The question of extending the scheme to other areas will be considered over the next 12 months.
In the urban setting 174 community gardaí are assigned to community policing duties in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, and these schemes will be further extended. These gardaí provide a closer link between the force and the local residents in densely populated suburbs where the traditional Garda-community relationships of the countryside have not been the norm.
Tackling the crime problem is of course a priority issue for me. It is made all the more compelling in view of the indications that crime increased last year. While a swift and determined response to any increase in crime is necessary, care must be taken to ensure that that response is a considered and comprehensive one, particularly in view of changing crime and social patterns. One thing I am certain of — a simplistic approach to the crime situation just will not work.
As a first step, it is important to put the problem in perspective so that we can accurately assess what we are dealing with. Trends from one year to the next may not be indicative of the real crime trend over a longer period. We must also consider the impact of increasing crime levels worldwide. Indeed, while Ireland has one of the lowest crime rates per capita of the 12 EC countries, we do have particular crime problems in certain urban areas.
With regard to urban crime it is generally recognised that police response in itself is not sufficient; a more widely based community response is called for. With this in mind, a high level inter-departmental group was set up late last year comprising assistant secretaries from the Departments of Justice, Education, Environment, Health, Labour and Social Welfare and also representatives from Dublin Corporation, Dublin County Council and the IDA. This group commenced their work by examining the needs of young people in the Ronanstown area of County Dublin and I look forward to receiving their report at an early date. The group will continue their work by focusing attention on the needs of young people in other areas where urban crime has been a problem. I might mention that even prior to the setting up of this group a number of community-based projects involving the Garda and other statutory and non-statutory organisations have been established and are in receipt of State support. These include projects in Ronanstown, Killinarden, and Cherry Orchard in Dublin and Southhill in Limerick.
The Garda authorities cannot always spell out the details of their "behind the scenes" work. I would like to inform the House of two particular areas where such Garda work is ongoing and effective. The first relates to attacks on tourists. There is active and continuing liaison between the Garda, Bord Fáilte and other tourist interests in dealing with this problem. Measures taken include the deployment of additional Garda patrols, including gardaí on plainclothes duty, in areas of high tourist interest and the distribution of leaflets to visitors advising on the crime prevention measures they can take.
The second area is the problem of drug abuse. Unfortunately, the indications are that the incidence of drug offending in Ireland has increased. Indeed the House will be aware of many recent Garda successes in the drugs area. The media have carried accounts of several successful Garda raids in recent weeks. These operations, which followed painstaking Garda surveillance and intelligence gathering activity, are evidence that the Garda have the skills, the commitment and the resources to tackle the drugs problem.
I will support the Garda in every way possible in the fight against drugs. A Bill designed to deprive those who deal in drugs, and indeed other criminals, of the profits of their sordid business is at an advanced stage of preparation in my Department and I hope to introduce it shortly to the House.
I want to assure the House that I am commited to providing the Garda Síochána with the powers and resources neccessary to deal effectively with the crime of fraud. Following an internal review prompted by my Department, the Garda Commissioner recently increased the strength of the Fraud Squad from 38 to 45 members. The Garda authorities are fully aware that the squad can call on assistance from outside specialists, as and when they require it. Also, I have established an Advisory Group on Serious Fraud under Mr. Peter Maguire, SC. This group, who include senior representatives of the Garda authorities, the Director of Public Prosecution's office, the Attorney General's office, the Departments of Finance and Industry and Commerce, the Revenue Commissioners and the Central Bank and my Department, are to report to me by Christmas and I can assure this House that their advice will be carefully considered and acted upon by this Government.
While speaking on the Garda Estimate I feel it would be remiss of me not to take the opportunity to refer to the small number of gardaí, 70 in all, who are serving today with the UN peacekeeping forces in Angola, Yugoslavia and Cambodia. These men and women, who have volunteered for these peacekeeping duties, are all superb ambassadors for Ireland abroad.
Traffic law enforcement continues to be a top priority for the gardaí. The Garda Traffic Corps now has 364 members, including a Chief Superintendent. It is now proposed to assign ten civilian clerical assistants to the corps, bringing the total number of civilians to 27, thus releasing vital Garda manpower for on-the-street traffic duties.
For sometime the question of false alarm calls has attracted attention both inside and outside this House. About 235,000 alarm activations notified to the Garda Síochána annually are false while only 15,000 are genuine alarm calls. When attending to the calls the Garda have no way of knowing which are genuine and which are false. Therefore, the alarms in question, which were intended as a useful instrument of crime prevention, are now, by and large, operating in a way which hampers effective crime prevention.
I have therefore approved the introduction by the Garda Síochána of a new policy to deal with those installations which show an unacceptable pattern of false calls. Under the new policy, owners of alarmed premises, where false calls exceed certain pre-determined levels, will, after a warning and further opportunity to rectify the situation, be informed that the Garda will no longer respond to their alarm calls. Only alarms which are connected either to an autodialling device, a monitoring centre or a local Garda station will be affected by this policy. Most residential alarms are not connected in any of these ways and are not therefore affected by this policy. Questions relating to the nuisance created by false activations of residential alarms are matters for the Minister for the Environment.
The policy will come into operation as from 1 September this year thus giving each owner of an alarmed premises adequate time to take remedial action where there is a high level of false alarms. This policy will succeed in making alarm systems once again an effective instrument in crime prevention.
Before commenting on the details contained in the Estimate for the prisons for 1992, I should like to comment on more general topics.
The unfortunate death of a young man in Wheatfield Prison last week has again provoked criticism of the prison system in general and of my stated intention of carrying out a full scale review to see whether changes in approach may be indicated.
The first point to be made about the recent unfortunate death is that it occurred in the most modern institution in the State, an institution which contains services and facilities of the highest standard. The deceased was serving a sentence. It is hardly relevant to that death to assert that other prisons are outworn and contain inadequate facilities, including primitive sanitation, or that there may be a need for a specialist institution for remand prisoners.
I do not need to be reminded of the many deficiencies in our prison system. I have visited some prisons and have seen for myself the good and the not so good. Of one thing I am convinced, and that is the need for a thorough review of where we are going. In an address to the annual delegate conference of the Prison Officers' Association at the end of April last I emphasised that I was not going to tinker with individual problems in a vacuum. I said we needed a better sense of purpose and direction in the prisons so that we may get better results from all our efforts. I said then, that I was planning the groundwork for a document that would set out an overall aim and objectives for the prison system, a set of priorities and a strategy to achieve them. Our thinking was going to be informed by the principles of penal policy enunciated by international bodies of which we are members and by the thrust of the Whitaker report. Once we got the fundamental aproach right, and anchored it to a realistic strategy, we could go on to tackle succesfully other features of the prison system that needed up-dating. The process I announced at the end of April is in full swing. An initial draft has been prepared and this will now be the subject of consultation among interested groups within the prison system. I have always been prepared to acknowledge that there are many features in the prison system that are far from satisfactory and I am determined to find a coherent strategy to deal with them over a period of time, and as resources allow.
I now want to turn to the Estimates. The total net estimate for the Prisons Vote exceeds the corresponding figure for 1991 by £3.060 million, an increase of 4 per cent. The main variations are: the provision being made for pay and overtime is £57.589 million compared with an outturn in 1991 of £57.358 million. The increase mainly reflects the full year cost of 169 additional staff which were recruited on a phased basis last year and the total provision for the Probation and Welfare Service, including the community service orders scheme, is £8.625 million compared with £7.25 million in 1991. The increase is mainly as a result of an increase in staff costs.
Nearly £10 million has been allocated this year to provide for the modernisation, up-grading and maintenance of our existing prison buildings — £6.5 million for expenditure on capital works and £3.49 million for the maintenance of existing buildings and equipment. The main capital allocation is for completion of the new health care unit in Mountjoy Prison, for refurbishment, to include in-cell sanitation, of the existing women's prison, which is due for completion shortly, commencement of construction of a new kitchen in Mountjoy Prison and the up-grading of security, services and other facilities in a number of prisons including Portlaoise.
Funds for the implementation of proposals for improvements sought by the director of prison medical services have been included in the Estimate. Sanction has been obtained for the appointment of a pharmacist and proposals are also being formulated for revised contracts for prison medical officers. The number of clinical psychologists is to be increased from three to six immediately, and possibly to eight later, to facilitate improved levels of counselling to prisoners.
The Estimates will encourage the use of alternatives to custody to the maximum. We already have at any one time about 3,200 offenders on supervision in the community as an alternative to a custodial sentence, including about 750 on community service orders. Community-based sanctions of this kind have many attractions. They are an effective penalty, they achieve positive results for the community and, of course, they avoid the huge costs of imprisonment. I have a review already in progress which is focusing on the possibility of extending them to fine defaulters.
A great deal of good work is being done to improve the prisons. Those working within the system — Governors, staff, specialists — are providing an invaluable service to the community and I acknowledge that fact. My main concern is to maximise the benefits for the community by having a system which not only protects the public from the depredations of the more serious offenders but also uses the system in a positive way to help as many prisoners as possible to resume a constructive life in the community on release. I am satisfied that if an approach aimed at maximising the benefits for the community is adopted we will be on the right road and, as I indicated earlier, the process to clarify that approach is well under way.
I move now to the courts Vote. The general efficiency and operation of the courts is, of course, a matter of great importance and the Vote provides the funding necessary to equip the courts to function as effectively as possible.
The courts Vote covers usual costs such as salaries, office equipment, accommodation and telecommunications. The estimated net cost of the courts system in 1992 taking into account the gross current expenditure and revenue accruing to the State through fines and so on is approximately £13.5 million.
The computerisation of court office work is vital if the courts are to provide an efficient and effective service. In the past few years considerable progress has been made in the computerisation of the District, Circuit and High Courts and the expansion of computerisation in the courts is to continue in 1992.
Among the measures already taken are: the computerisation of the central office of the High Court; the introduction of a case tracking system for Circuit Court offices, which has been installed in three offices to date and is under evaluation in other offices; a family law accounts package which has been made available to the Dublin Metropolitan District Court Family Law office.
In addition, an automatic office system to provide post-court documents such as fines and warrants is being introduced in the Naas, Nenagh, Portlaoise, Tullamore and Waterford District Court offices.
Computerisation of the District Court is to continue, and two independent systems have recently been assessed in this regard. In line with the computerisation of all court offices, personal computers are being provided to a range of court offices.
The accessibility of the courts to the public is extremely important and the introduction of the small claims procedure in December 1991 was a vital step in furthering this accessibility.
The small claims procedure is designed to provide a speedy, informal and low cost system to handle consumer claims. It was introduced on a pilot basis in four locations last December and has been most successful to date. The operation of the small claims procedure is being closely monitored by my Department pending a full review later this year. At that stage a decision on whether to extend the procedure to all District Court offices will be taken.
In a major initiative the provision of a live video-link system in court rooms, is now under way. The Criminal Evidence Bill, 1992, Part III, requires the provision in certain cases of an audio visual system, to enable witnesses under 17 years to give evidence and be cross-examined outside of the court-room setting. The closed circuit television system being introduced on a pilot basis in the Four Courts, and later in two provincial courts, will provide an audio visual link between the court room and a separate witness room to allow court proceedings to be conducted as if a witness were giving evidence in the court room.
I will now turn to Vote 23, for the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds. A sum of £11.305 million provided in the Vote represents an 11 per cent increase on the 1991 figure.
The additional funds provided in the Vote are earmarked primarily for implementation of an approved programme of computerisation and for the recruitment of extra staff for arrears clearance at the registries.
The House will be aware of the proposal, approved in principle by Government, to reconstitute the Land Registry and the Registry of Deeds as a semi-State body. This is being done to give the registries the commercial orientation and flexibility that will enable them to provide a fast, efficient and modern service to the public and to adapt to the changing demands of this technological age.
I expect to be in a position to announce the appointment of an interim board for the registries in the near future. The interim board will operate on a non-statutory basis and their principal role will be to advise and assist in the various steps which need to be taken in readiness for the reconstitution of the registries. I have, in the meanwhile, made arrangements for the preparation of legislation to formally vest the registries in a semi-State board.
In order to offset the additional expenditure at the registries, I brought the Land Registration (Fees) Order, 1991, and the Registry of Deeds (Fees) Order, 1991, into effect on 1 April this year. The orders provide for an overall increase in fees payable to the registries of 25 per cent approximately. It is estimated that the increased fees provided for in these two orders will realise extra receipts in the amount of £1.725 million in 1992 and £2.588 million in a full year.
I am particularly pleased to be able to report that services are already improving at the registries. For example in the case of dealings, which are the main business of the Land Registry, I am informed by the registrar that the arrears of uncompleted dealings have been reduced by 7 per cent over the past two years and that a further improvement of the situation with regard to arrears and delays at the registries can be expected during the course of this year.
Finally, I will turn to the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Justice which, in addition to providing for the salaries and expenses of the office of the Minister, provides for certain other services including Legal Aid and the Garda Complaints Board.
The Estimate is for £18.871 million representing an increase of 10 per cent on the equivalent figure for 1991.
The 1992 Exchequer provision in respect of the Scheme of Civil Legal Aid and Advice is £2.569 million. That represents an increase of 9 per cent over the grant-in-aid to the Legal Aid Board in 1991. The number of staff employed by the board reached its highest level ever during 1991. Additional solicitors and administrative staff were recruited to fill vacancies and also to permit the opening of new law centres. In December last three new law centres were opened, in Castlebar, Dundalk and Letterkenny. Acquisition of premises for the two new law centres at Finglas and Clondalkin to replace the Aston House centre are almost completed and the additional staff for the centres have been recruited.
Recently a new part-time law centre opened in Newbridge and the new law centres in the Dublin area will service part-time centres to be established at Blanchardstown and Balbriggan. The board are currently examining the position of the part-time law centres with a view to opening further new ones.
The total cost of running the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme in 1992 is estimated to be £3.87 million including value-added tax and retention tax, which are recouped to the Exchequer. The scheme is administered by the courts under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962, and orders made under that Act. Representation is provided by solicitors and counsel who have indicated their willingness to provide legal representation to persons who are granted free legal aid by the courts.
Members will be aware of the difficulties for the administration of justice in Cork which commenced in September 1991 as a result of the actions of the solicitors in Cork city who withdrew from the operation of the scheme because of their dissatisfaction with the level of fees paid. This action was taken some months before a claim on behalf of criminal legal aid solicitors was lodged with my Department by the Incorporated Law Society. The solicitors in Cork have resumed legal aid work since 25 May pending the outcome of the negotiations with the Incorporated Law Society in which my Department are engaged.
Provision of £346,000 is included in the Vote of the Office of the Minister for Justice for the Garda Complaints Board and this represents an increase of £26,000 over last year's provision. This increase covers staff increments as well as an expected increase in tribunal and appeal board activity arising from the clearing of the backlog of complaints. The assignment last year of three additional staff to the board has already enabled the board to make very significant inroads into the arrears situation which had developed. The board are satisfied that they now have the necessary staff to deal with all complaints within a speedy and acceptable time-scale.
The assignment of the additional staff has also enabled the board to examine the operation of the complaints system with a view to streamlining it where appropriate. One such aspect is the "clogging up" of the system with formal investigations in the case of the complaints of a minor nature. Discussions between the board and Garda management on this matter have been successfully concluded and revised procedures for informal resolution of complaints were introduced at the beginning of this year. These new arrangements are designed to ensure that less serious complaints are dealt with in a simpler way, as originally envisaged in the Complaints Act.
In the course of this address I have informed the House where State resources within my control have been allocated. I hope I have made it clear that my first priority in the use of these resources is to preserve law and order throughout the country and to protect our citizens as they go about their daily business.
With every confidence I commend these Estimates to the House.