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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 16 Nov 1999

Vol. 510 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Garda Dispute.

(Mayo): I thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for choosing this matter on the Adjournment this evening. The decision by gardaí to refuse to work the new £55 million PULSE computer system from midnight last night represents yet another crisis which might well have been averted had action and intervention by the Minister and his Department occurred at an earlier stage. Unfortunately, they did not act and the result is that we are now at an impasse where 1,400 state of the art computer terminals which should be fully functioning at Garda stations this morning are lying idle. This was the equipment that was going to be a vital instrument in the collection and accessing of files on criminal records, car registrations and firearms.

This system was not devised yesterday or today. It is three and a half years since the former Minister for Justice, Deputy Owen, announced the introduction of the PULSE technology and made £20 million available. The idea was that full training would be provided for gardaí using the system and that the system would be fully operational early in 1999. Apart from the updating of resources to fight crime, the danger that the existing system would be caused to malfunction by the Y2K bug was also a major consideration. While all kinds of assurances are being given by the Minister that normal policing is not affected, we are witnessing yet another in the long litany of debacles that have characterised this Minister's term of office.

What I cannot understand is how the crisis was not foreseen and forestalled. I cannot understand how the PULSE issue could not have been factored into the wage negotiations which have already taken place between the Garda representatives on the one hand and the Minister and his officials on the other. The two day "blue 'flu" in 1998 led to negotiations which eventually yielded a 9% increase in Garda pay. Why was the PULSE issue not sorted out as part of those negotiations? That was 18 months ago. Had the new system been included in the negotiations, today's stand-off need never have happened. Why was no attempt made to try to have the issue included in the recent offer of a 4.4% increase, albeit rejected? Why was it not dealt with during the long training and installation period? Why was it allowed to drag on to the eleventh hour so that today the screens of the new expensive computers which should be supplying vital crime data are blank?

Contrast this to the AFIS, automated fingerprinting system, introduced by the former Minister, Deputy Owen. It is a phenomenal success reducing the reading time for identifying fingerprints from 500 hours to a mere ten minutes. There was no industrial relations hitch because proper discussions and negotiations took place, and in good time.

Instead of meaningful and early discussions, we awoke this morning to learn from news bulletins that talks were still at the talks about talks stage. An offer of formal talks with the gardaí was still being considered by the Department. The Mini ster of State should convey to the Minister that he is responsible for the operation of the different sections of his Department. His officials, on his instructions, should have sat down at an early stage and resolved whatever difficulties were likely to arise but, unfortunately, this did not happen. The result is that instead of officially switching on the new system last night, the Minister has his representative here this evening answering questions and giving excuses why £55 million of taxpayers' technology lies paralysed and an old outdated system is still in use. There could well be court disruption also if gardaí are unable to provide judges with defendants' previous criminal records.

The Minister of State should tell the Minister that the past two weeks have been bad for the criminal justice system, with three bank raids, two unopened prisons, two prison suicides, court cases collapsing because of wrong charges or shoddy preparation. That is simply not acceptable, but unfortunately this week promises to be no better.

PULSE, an acronym for Police Using Leading Systems Effectively, is the main implementation vehicle for the information technology plan of the Garda Síochána. The PULSE project seeks to replace many manual and paper-based methods of operations with an integrated suite of 17 computer systems that will provide significant operational benefits for the force. The 17 PULSE systems relate to incident response, general inquiry, firearms, intelligence, property, incident analysis, summons, charges, bail, prisoner logs, court outcomes, dispatch, alarms, warrants, road traffic accident document production, traffic accident analysis and juvenile liaison.

Once fully developed, the systems will computerise all aspects of the aforementioned operational areas. All data generated within these functions by gardaí on the beat will ultimately be inputted directly into the PULSE systems from Garda stations, and, conversely, data inquiries will be made directly from Garda stations. This point-of-generation data input will ensure that PULSE systems will always contain up-to-date information within these 17 operational areas.

The critical year 2000 compliance component of the PULSE project, namely, the so-called Release 1b, replaces the existing non-Y2K compliant Garda mainframe systems. Release 1b includes systems for incident response, interim court outcomes, firearms, vehicle registration, general inquiries, photographs, property and incident analysis.

Release 1b went live at midnight on 15 November. There really was no option but to go live on this date, as the existing mainframe computers were in danger of collapse at any time due to their Y2K deficiencies and it was therefore imperative to secure Garda records by transferring them to the Y2K compliant platform lest they be lost.

Data conversion from the mainframe systems to the PULSE platform had been proceeding since 15 October and the new PULSE databases were successfully populated with criminal intelligence data by the scheduled completion date of midnight on 15 November. In effect, gardaí now have operationally ready Y2K-compliant PULSE systems available at 29 sites. These systems provide an equivalent degree of functionality as existing systems, with expanding capability thereafter. However, members of the Garda Representative Association and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors have indicated that they will not operate PULSE systems pending the resolution of their outstanding pay claims. As a consequence, gardaí may have to operate fallback, paper-based, manual procedures.

We will be back to bicycles.

This would mean that newly created data would continue to be collected in paper form and would be available for entry on PULSE systems when the industrial relations difficulties are resolved. In general, the impact on policing of having to revert to manual systems would be to slow the recording and retrieval of data. It should be stressed, however, that essential policing services will continue to be provided and no particular impact is anticipated on the wider criminal justice system.

That is amazing.

On the industrial relations question, I understand that the GRA asked for discussions with the official side on the Garda pay issue and those discussions commenced this afternoon. It should be made clear, however, that the Government's position is that there cannot be further money on the table, as the question of Garda pay has already been the subject of recommendations by the adjudication board which was established to resolve PCW claims. In any event, the Government is satisfied that essential policing services will continue to be provided, despite the current industrial relations difficulties, which, as with all such situations, I hope to see resolved as soon as possible.

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