Ivor Callely
Question:149 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice the additional moneys which have been allocated to help address the serious crime problem; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11717/97]
Written Answers. - Crime Prevention.
As Minister for Justice I have brought forward a number of measures, legislative, administrative and financial, designed to deal in an integrated way with the problem posed to society by criminals. The measures range from changes to our bail laws, additional prison places to additional powers for the Garda and the appointment of additional judges. A summary of the measures is hereunder together with costings, where applicable. In the case of some of the legislative and administrative changes, e.g. the appointment of additional judges and holding of extra courts, the costs are not separately identifiable but the impact on crime would be substantial through reductions in court delays.
List of measures brought forward by the Minister for Justice to address the crime problem.
1. Garda resources.
(a) The Minister for Justice has provided almost £460 million in her 1997 budget for the fight against crime, £441 million was provided in 1996.
(b) The strength of the force is 10,720 at 31 March 1997. There are also 655 trainee gardaí in phases 1, 2 and 3 of the current training programme for gardaí. These trainee gardaí are not included in the above figures.
One of the main elements of the anti-crime measures which the Minister for Justice announced in July 1996 was the recruitment of 400 gardaí to the force over the period July 1996 to October 1997, in addition to the planned recruitment of 350 each year from 1995-97, bringing the total recruitment to 1,450 during this period.
The Minister for Justice obtained Government approval on 19 March 1997 for her proposals to hold a new competition for the recruitment of gardaí over the three year period 1998-2000, inclusive. The number to be recruited will be decided by the Government shortly and the first trainee gardaí from this recruitment campaign will commence training in January 1998.
(c) An IT plan for the Garda Síochána is being implemented at present at a cost of approximately £36 million. On 20 September 1996 the Minister for Justice signed a contract valued at £10 million with Andersen Consulting in connection with the IT plan which will be developed jointly by the Garda's own IT staff and Andersen Consulting.
(d) An automated fingerprinting identification system was installed at Garda headquarters in January 1996.
(e) The Minister for Justice will provide a dedicated air support unit for the Garda Síochána. Contracts valued at £5.5 million were signed on 12 December 1996 for the purchase of a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft for use by the Garda. It is expected that both aircraft will have been delivered by June-July 1997.
(f) Extra Civilianisation: an additional 200 civilians will be recruited by June 1997 — 66 of this additional 200 have been recruited so far — so that an equivalent number of gardaí can be released from clerical-administrative-type duties to operational Garda duties. In addition to the current recruitment process as above, there are already over 680 civilian staff working in clerical-administrative positions with the Garda Síochána.
2. Reorganisation of the Garda Force.
The Minister for Justice has undertaken a fundamental restructuring of the Garda force with the appointment in January 1996 of assistant commissioners to head-up five new regions outside of Dublin, the Dublin metropolitan area was already in existence.
This reorganisation of the force on a regional basis will provide for a much more co-ordinated and cohesive approach in tackling, on an operational basis, all facets of crime.
3. Review of efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the Garda Síochána.
The Government has approved the carrying out of a full review of the efficiency of the Garda Síochána under the strategic management initiative. This review is nearing competion and following its consideration by Government, the Garda Commissioner will be obliged to implement the recommendations of this review.
4. Garda building programme.
The Minister for Justice has provided almost £9 million in her 1997 budget for the Garda building programme.
5. CCTV system as an aid to policing.
A CCTV system was established in the Temple Bar area of Dublin on a pilot basis in October 1995 and will be extended to other areas. On 17 December 1996 a contract for the Garda CCTV system for the O'Connell Street area of Dublin at an estimated cost of £700,000 was signed. The system will become operational on a phased basis over the next month or so with phase 1 comprising CCTV for O'Connell Street itself having come on-stream on 11 April 1997. The Minister for Justice has also sanctioned funding for a further two schemes located in Finglas and Tralee. Up to 20 other locations throughout the country have expressed an interest in installing the Garda CCTV scheme.
6. Youth diversion schemes.
The number of youth diversion schemes in operation in urban areas has been increased from four in 1994 to 11 at present, April 1997. These schemes specifically target young people who are already showing signs of becoming criminals between the ages of eight and 16 years old. The Minister has plans for the further expansion of this scheme.
7. Attacks against the elderly in rural areas.
Considerable resources are being concentrated on putting an end to such attacks and on bringing the perpetrators to justice. Community alert with 800 schemes involving over 150,000 households received the first ever money from the current Minister for Justice — £50,000 to help expand the services, also £4,000 to print an information newsletter. The Department of Justice and the Garda Síochána were also represented on the task force on security for the elderly which was established by the Minister for Social Welfare in 1996 and the recommendations from the task force relevant to the Department of Justice are being implemented.
8. Crime strategy paper-crime council.
The Minister for Justice will be publishing a statement of strategy for tackling crime shortly. This will be the first such strategy paper ever published in the history of the State. It will outline plans for establishing a crime council thereby facilitating ongoing, well-informed and broadly-based discussion on crime.
9. Victims of crime.
(a) The Minister for Justice has provided £3.4 million in 1997 for payments under the criminal injuries compensation tribunal scheme.
(b) The Minister for Justice published a Charter for Victims of Crime on 28 February 1997.
(c) The Minister for Justice has provided the Irish Association for Victim Support with a grant of £280,000 in 1997, £180,000 provided in 1996.
(d) The Minister for Justice is providing facilities for the Irish Association for Victim Support in all major court building projects.
(e) The Minister for Justice intends also to publish an information booklet for victims of crime in addition to the charter referred to at (b) above.
(f) On 2 November 1996 the Minister for Justice was presented with the report of the working party on the legal and judicial process for victims of sexual and other crimes of violence against women and children. The working party received funding from the Minister for Justice towards the cost of this report and the report is being examined by the Minister for Justice and other relevant Ministers and agencies.
10. Garda National Bureau of Fraud Investigation.
In April 1995 the Minister for Justice established a National Bureau of Fraud Investigation which is dedicated to tackle this major area of crime with lay accountants involved alongside the Garda.
11. Drugs.
The Minister for Justice targeted a major assault on drug trafficking when she obtained Governmental approval for a series of measures aimed at tackling drug trafficking and abuse which is at the root of much of the crime in our society. These measures included: a Garda national drugs unit was established in July 1995 under the control of a deputy commissioner; a memorandum of understanding between the gardaí and Customs and Excise has been signed by agency heads and endorsed by the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Finance; the Criminal Assets Bureau with a senior garda as its chief bureau officer has been established. This new body which has personnel drawn from the Garda, the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Welfare, will ensure closer and more concerted co-operation between State agencies in dealing with organised crime. The Criminal Assets Bureau Act, 1996 has put the bureau on a statutory footing; the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996, amongst other things, allows for the detention for questioning of drug traffickers for up to seven days and restricts the right to silence in drug trafficking cases; and on 11 February 1997 the Minister for Justice received Government approval for the drafting of a Bill to deal with drug abuse in dance halls, public houses and other entertainment venues as well as at unlicensed dances whether indoors or out of doors. This Bill completed Second Stage in the Dáil on 29 April 1997. The Minister also introduced an amendment at the Committee Stage of the Drug Trafficking Bill (now Act) in the Dáil to amend the 1935 Public Dance Halls Actvis-à-vis entry in plain clothes by members of the Garda Síochána to venues where a Public Dance Hall Licence is in force in connection with investigating suspected drug trafficking offences.
12. Drug in Prison.
The Minister for Justice is taking steps to tackle the drugs problem in our prisons including: opening a secure drugs-free unit in the training unit in the Mountjoy Prison complex on 28 March 1996; the opening of a new drug treatment centre in Mountjoy Prison on 3 July 1996; in Mountjoy and other prisons increased vigilance by staff has substantially increased seizures of drugs from prisons and their visitors; and the Mountjoy complex has had cameras installed in the visitor area and a search room put in place to search prisoners coming from visits.
13. Prison places.
The Minister for Justice obtained Government approval in 1996 for an accelerated prisons capital building programme to provide over 800 additional prison places in the period up to the end of 1998. In excess of 160 additional places under this programme became available in 1996, a further 180 places are scheduled to be completed in the current year and the remaining 460 new places will become available in 1998. A prisons project team is in place in the Department of Justice to ensure the speedy progression of additional prison accommodation. When all these projects are completed there will be as stated above 800 additional places over and above the current 2,250 prison places available, an increase of 35 per cent in the total prison capacity. The estimated overall cost of providing accelerated programme for the provision of additional prison places including new projects, refurbishment works, maintenance and equipment is in the region of £135 million.
The Minister for Justice on 7 February 1997 approved the development of the new special high security unit at Wheatfield to manage violent offenders. This unit will be ready for occupation by June 1997. In addition, the Minister has approved the provision of a new 60 person close supervision facility in Portlaoise Prison to hold difficult high-security prisoners.
The Minister for Justice has established a prisons operating cost review group to review the operating costs of the prison service. The current average cost of keeping an offender in prison is £46,500 per annum and the Minister hopes that the group will be able to recommend ways to achieve a reduction in this cost.
New supervised early release programme
On 2 July 1996 the Minister for Justice obtained Government approval for a new scheme involving intensive supervision of 100 prisoners, initially, on early release. The Government approved the recruitment of ten additional probation officers to enable this scheme to be put into effect, in co-operation with the Garda.
Expert group on the establishment of an Independent Prisons Agency
On 12 November 1996 the Government approved the establishment of an independent prisons board or agency to run the prison service on a day-to-day basis and in that context established the expert group chaired by Mr. Dan McAuley to report on the establishment of such a board or agency. Following Government approval, the Minister for Justice published the expert group's report entitled "Towards an Independent Prisons Agency" on 26 March 1997.
Probation and Welfare Service
The Minister for Justice in July 1996 approved the construction of a new premises in Ronanstown, North Clondalkin, for the North Clondalkin probation project at an estimated cost of £700,000 which will be funded by her Department. Building work is well under way. The premises, when completed, will provide facilities for 36 offenders as well as offices for the probation and welfare service.
14. Court reform.
(a)The Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995/Courts Act, 1996/Courts Act, 1997
Through the Courts and Court Officers Act the Minister for Justice introduced measures to tackle the problem of delays in the courts and to introduce administrative and procedural reforms which simplify and speed up the processing of cases through the courts and enhance the overall efficiency of the courts system. The number of judges authorised at present by legislation in the various courts are as follows: Supreme Court 8, High Court 23, Circuit Court 28, District Court 51. There is now 102 judges as compared to 86 judges in January 1995.
(b)Working group on a courts commission
The Minister for Justice set up this working group in November 1995 to carry out a thorough review of the management and financing of the courts with a view to outlining the way in which reform of the courts might take place. On 21 May 1996 the Minister for Justice received approval from the Government for the publication of the first report of the working group on a courts commission entitled "Management and Financing of the Courts". The Government also approved in principle the primary recommendation of the report that an independent and permanent body be established to manage a unified court system; this body to be created by statute as an agency of the State and to be known as the courts service and to be managed on a day-to-day basis by a chief executive officer of Departmental Secretary rank.
On 11 September 1996 the Minister for Justice received approval from the Government for the publication of a second report of the working group on a courts commission entitled "Case Management and Court Management". The Government also accepted in general the recommendations of this report.
On 19 November 1996 the Minister for Justice received approval from the Government for the publication of the third report of the working group on a courts commission entitled "Toward the Courts Service". That report concentrates on two specific areas — (a) the legal framework for the proposed courts service and (b) broad management approaches to the changing structure. The report sets out a broad sketch of the heads of a Bill to establish the courts service and the preparation of this Bill is being given priority. The working group is continuing to do further preparatory work for the establishment of the courts service whilst the legislation is in preparation.
On 25 March 1997 the Minister for Justice received approval from the Government for the publication of the fourth report of the working group on a courts commission entitled "The Chief Executive of the Courts Service". The report sets out in some detail the role and function of the chief executive of the courts service.
(c)Arrangements for additional sittings of the Central Criminal Court and the Circuit Court
The Minister for Justice obtained the agreement of the President of the High Court that the Central Criminal Court sit for three additional weeks commencing on 16 September 1996.
The Minister for Justice also obtained the agreement of the President of the Circuit Court for additional sittings of the Circuit Court around the country, but in particular in the Dublin, South East, South West and Western Circuit areas where delays are generally longer. Again, the extra sittings of Circuit Courts were for three additional weeks commencing on 16 September 1996.
(d)Court delays
The strategy of the Minister for Justice has been to combine the allocation of judicial resources with practical legislative and adminstrative reforms in order to quickly equip the courts system with the means to make inroads on delays in hearing cases and appeals. The existing backlogs in the courts are well on the way to being cleared. For example, in the Dublin Circuit Court new litigants in civil cases can now obtain a court date within six weeks of the lodgment of their case as compared to a two-year delay last July 1996. In family law cases in the Dublin Circuit Court, the delay has been reduced from 16 months to four months and there are now no delays in the hearing of criminal cases in the Dublin Circuit Court. There have been similar substantial reductions in the hearing of cases in the Provincial Circuit Court.
(e)District Court Rules 1997
The Minister for Justice formally launched the District Court Rules 1997 on 7 March 1997. These rules were last consolidated in 1948 and the entire text of these rules will also be available on computer diskette and CD ROM.
(f)Court accommodation
The Minister for Justice has provided £8.6 million in her 1997 budget for court capital projects and court maintenance projects.
15. Legislation enacted from 1995-7.
The Criminal Law (Incest Proceedings) Act 1995 ensures that in every case of incest the verdict and sentence, if any, has to be announced in public and that although members of the public are excluded from the hearing, bona fide representatives of the press may attend at hearings of proceedings under the Punishment of Incest Act, 1908 while ensuring the anonymity of the person charged by means of prohibiting the publication of matters likely to lead to identification.
The Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act, 1995 enabled Ireland to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons as well as an EU Agreement on the application of the convention among member states. The basic aim of the convention is to provide for a simple and expeditious procedure under which persons sentenced in a foreign country can serve their sentence or the balance of their sentence in their own country of origin.
The Courts and Court Officers Act 1995 provides for increases in the numbers of judges of the Supreme, High, Circuit and District Courts. It provides that the Supreme Court may sit in divisions and for the abolition of the Court of Criminal Appeal and the transfer of its jurisdiction to the Supreme Court. It also makes provision for the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Advisory Board to advise the Government on the suitability of persons for judicial appointment.
The Act also amends and extends the powers of the Master of the High Court, County Registrars and Taxing Masters of the High Court.
The Act allows the trial judge to decide whether a criminal trial should be transferred for hearing to the Circuit Court in Dublin. It also removes limitations on the territorial jurisdiction of judges of the District Court in respect of criminal cases. It makes provision for a number of other matters including the provision of funding for judicial training, qualifying solicitors for appointment as judges of the Circuit Court and reducing the retirement age of judges of the Supreme and High Courts.
The Courts Act, 1996 provides for an increase in the statutory maximum number of ordinary judges of the Circuit Court from 24 to 27 judges.
The Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 amongst other things allows for the detention for questioning of drug traffickers for up to seven days and restricts the right to silence in drug trafficking cases.
The Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996 enables the High Court to freeze and ultimately dispose of property worth at least £10,000 which it is satisfied on the balance of probabilities is the proceeds of crime.
Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution Act, 1996
The Minister for Justice tabled substantial amendments to the (Private Members) Sexual Offences (Jurisdiction) Bill, now an Act, in the Dáil, both to improve the Bill in its own right and to incorporate into it the intention behind the Child Sex Tours Bill, Senator Henry's Bill.
Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1997
The purpose of this Act is to achieve savings in costs and in Garda time through changes in procedure in criminal cases. Among other matters, the Act gives the Garda new powers to search for evidence relating to serious offences such as murder and rape, extends the period for which a person may be remanded in custody and provides for the giving of certain garda evidence by certificate.
Courts Act, 1997
This Act makes provision for an additional three High Court judges.
Criminal Law Act, 1997
This Act simplifies procedures of arrest and gets rid of the outdated concepts of misdemeanours and felonies.
Criminal Justice Act 1994 — orders-regulations under the Act
The Minister for Justice signed a Commencement Order in March 1995 implementing anti-money laundering provisions of the Criminal Justice Act, 1994.
The regulations under the Criminal Justice Act, 1994 dealing with the seizure of imports or exports of cash associated with drug trafficking have been made by the Minister for Justice following approval by both Houses of the Oireachtas.
International conventions
On 4 July 1996 the Minister for Justice obtained the approval of the Dáil for the terms of the following three important international conventions on criminal law: the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and the Additional Protocol to the Convention was ratified by Ireland on 28 November 1996; the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances — this UN convention was ratified by Ireland on 3 September 1996; and the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime was ratified by Ireland on 28 November 1996.
The above three conventions are very important measures which will enable Ireland to co-operate extensively with other countries in the fight against drugs and other serious crimes on an international level.