I thank the committee for making time available to me again this week, this time to consider my request for Supplementary Estimates for the Garda Síochána and Courts Service Votes and a technical Supplementary Estimate for the Justice and Equality Vote. While the Garda Síochána and Courts Service Votes require combined additional funding of €30.2 million, this has been offset by a saving of €2.8 million which is likely to arise in respect of the Property Registration Authority Vote before the end of the year. Therefore, in total, additional funding of €27.4 million, less than 1.2% of the original gross allocation, is required in 2011.
In the current economic and budgetary climate, I am conscious of the imposition that any requirement for additional funding puts on the resources of the State and therefore will explain in some detail the background to the requirement for Supplementary Estimates in respect of both the Garda Síochána and Courts Service Votes. The Supplementary Estimate in respect of the Justice and Equality Vote is more of a technical accounting exercise to reallocate budgets between certain subheads prior to the end of the financial year and does not require any additional funding.
There is a requirement for a Supplementary Estimate of €27.4 million on the Garda Síochána Vote which is largely accounted for by two factors: the security costs of the visits to the State last May of Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama and the need to make a settlement with the Revenue Commissioners following a recent determination on the taxability of certain allowances and payments made to members of An Garda Síochána.
The members of An Garda Síochána were charged with the responsibility of putting in place a security operation for the State visits last May. It almost goes without saying that the security of our visitors while in our country was of paramount importance both from the perspective of the personal safety of our distinguished guests and the image of the country should anything have gone wrong. I am assured from my discussions with the Garda Commissioner that the security operation was consistent with the security threat for two such high-profile visits. As members are aware, the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland was without precedent and the visit of the President of the United States of America to any part of the world entails a very significant security operation. It was unique also in the history of this country that two such important visits occurred within such a short timeframe.
The security operation in both cases was an outstanding success. The visits were conducted in complete safety for the very many people involved and the reputation of Ireland as a safe and secure destination for visitors was enhanced significantly. The positive impacts of the visits, which were beamed around the world, most notably to the USA and Britain, and which are already yielding dividends in terms of tourist numbers and spend to the State, were enormous.
I have already acknowledged the vital role played by the members of both An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces in the visits - often at great personal disruption and inconvenience to those concerned. I take the opportunity of this debate to do so again and thank them.
Clearly, such security operations come at a financial cost and, in this case, the cost of the Garda operation was just under €36 million. This expenditure was broadly speaking broken down between payroll costs of €28.5 million - of which overtime accounts for almost €24 million; travel and subsistence of €3 million; specialist communications equipment and clothing of €1.5 million; and other non-payroll expenditure of almost €3 million, relating to everything from the purchase and hire of barricades to the provision of catering facilities.
The situation has been compounded in the current year with the finalisation of a taxation issue on a small number of Garda pay allowances paid in previous years. Following a recent determination by the Revenue Commissioners, it has transpired that all or part of the allowances in question should be subject to PAYE and PRSI and other relevant deductions. The funding is not available within the Garda Vote, either in the current year or future years, to pay the outstanding corporate liability of the Department of €12.4 million, which covers the three year period 2009 to 2011, without recourse to a Supplementary Estimate. The payment is a circular one and the funding in question will, of course, go back to the Exchequer immediately in the form of a payment to the Revenue Commissioners. The allowances in question, which for the most part relate to payments of a fixed nature such as boot, uniform, plain clothes and detective allowances, will be taxable at individual Garda member level from 1 January 2012.
Aside from the security costs of the State visits and the once-off settlement to the Revenue Commissioners, pressures emerged in the Garda Vote in 2011 in areas such as the compensation subhead, which is demand-led, and in particular in relation to the costs of maintaining and running the Garda fleet, utilities and the licensing costs associated with the national digital radio system, which has now been rolled out across the country.
The combined effect of all of these issues has resulted in excesses in a number of subheads such as A1, salaries, wages and allowances, of €52.339 million; travel and subsistence of €3.292 million; telecommunication services of €6.25 million; station services, including utility bills, of €7.174 million; transport fleet maintenance of €10.917 million; and compensation of €4.313 million. There is also an excess in subhead E, communications and other equipment, of €12.280 million, which is mainly accounted for by the cost of the road safety camera contract which has the objective of reducing roads deaths and improving driver behaviour. This cost has been offset in part by income from fixed charges issued as a result of this initiative, and this last accounts mainly for the surplus in appropriations-in-aid.
Notwithstanding the difficulties I have outlined, it has been possible, through a number of cost reduction and other budgetary management initiatives taken by the Commissioner, together with savings of €59 million in the superannuation subhead, to reduce the amount of the net Supplementary Estimate for the Garda Vote to €27.4 million in 2011. The superannuation savings have arisen for the most part from a reduction in the rate of pension payable to existing pensioners and fewer lump sum retirement payments falling due for payment in 2011 than had been projected. Clearly the extension of the grace period to the end of February 2012 has had an impact on the retirement levels in the current year which are estimated to be in the region of 500 by year end.
It is clear from what I have said that every effort has been made to minimise the amount of the Supplementary Estimate. It is important also to acknowledge the work carried out by An Garda Síochána, which fulfils a crucial role for society, often in very difficult circumstances. The Garda has, for example, been very successful in tackling serious organised crime, as a result of which a significant number of persons involved with major criminal gangs have been convicted before the courts. In this context the Garda has recently carried out an extensive search and arrest operation targeted at a gang based in Dublin. In the course of the operation the Garda seized ammunition, drugs and cash. It is fair to state that rarely does a week now pass when the Garda does not have some substantial success in operations targeting gangs, in particular those engaged in the drug trade, and I congratulate the Garda on the extraordinary work it has done in recent months and one the very substantial success across a broad range of operations dealing with the issues of fuel, drugs and the illegal importation of cigarettes. Some of the work it does in these areas is in conjunction with the Revenue Commissioners and some of the successes achieved have resulted from the very substantial co-ordination and interactivity between the Garda and the PSNI. The level of co-operation between them should be highlighted because it is proving to be extremely effective, North and South, in targeting gangs operating on the island of Ireland, putting them under pressure and bringing people engaged in serious criminality before the courts.
More generally, the most recent statistics from the Central Statistics Office for recorded crime for the third quarter of 2011 show decreases in 12 of the 14 crime groups for which figures are given compared with the same quarter in 2010. They show a reduction of almost half, 42.1%, in homicide offences in the quarter, which includes a reduction of almost a tenth, 9.1%, in the number of murders. Also very encouraging are the reductions in the categories of controlled drug offences, reduced by 15%, and weapons and explosives offences, reduced by 11.3%. Property related crime - broadly speaking, robbery, burglary and theft - is effectively static, with an increase of 0.2%, as is the most serious category of such crime, robbery, extortion and hijacking, which has decreased by 0.4%. The Garda is placing a particular emphasis on preventing and reducing burglary and providing a targeted response, having regard to locations, times, offenders and victims.
There have been significant decreases also in the numbers of cases of dangerous driving leading to death, decreased by 83.3%, driving or in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, decreased by 48.1 %, and driving or in charge of a vehicle while over the legal alcohol limit, decreased by 16.4%. It is also worth pointing out there has been a further reduction this year in the number of deaths on our roads resulting from traffic accidents. There has also been a welcome reduction of 15% in public order and related offences. While there are clearly no grounds for complacency, it is right that I compliment the Garda Commissioner, his senior management and all members of the force on their focused and strategic work in preventing and detecting crime.
In the case of the courts Vote, a Supplementary Estimate requirement of €2.8 million arises which is made up of the cost of the publication of certain High Court orders, which is €1.3 million, and a shortfall in appropriations-in-aid of €1.5 million. The additional cost of the publication of notices in relation to certain High Court orders and the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act 2010 arises due to the restructuring of financial institutions. This requirement actually arises from applications made by the Department of Finance to the High Court under the relevant legislation, which obliges the State to give investors throughout the EU who are likely to be impacted sufficient notice of any such restructuring. This additional cost is likely to be in the region of €1.3 million by year end and was not provided for in the original budget for 2011.
It is projected that there will be a shortfall in courts fees in 2011, which is mainly accounted for by the increase in the fee income target for 2011 as set by the previous Government, the demand-led nature of courts fees, and the downturn in the economy. This will give rise to a shortfall in appropriations-in-aid of €1.5 million.
The Supplementary Estimate is also being utilised to offset a number of overruns in subheads such as salaries, office premises and expenses with savings in other subheads such as the repayments in respect of the Criminal Courts of Justice complex. This saving is due to the phasing of payments over the three years from 2010 to 2012 and will not reoccur in 2012.
The technical Supplementary Estimate in the Department of Justice and Equality Vote is primarily required to offset excesses in a number of subheads by savings in other areas, including surplus appropriations-in-aid. One of the areas of overspend relates to the commissions and special inquiries subhead, and this is accounted for in part by expenditure on the recent constitutional amendment on judges' remuneration which is expected to cost in the region of €750,000. As was the case for previous referenda, my Department made a budget available to the Referendum Commission, on an agency basis, for the necessary public information campaign associated with the referendum, and the expenditure will ultimately be reflected in the Department's Vote. Costs associated with ongoing and previous inquiries and tribunals also account for the overspend in this subhead.
Despite significant reductions in relation to the fees payable under the criminal legal aid scheme, it is projected that there will be an overrun in the relevant subhead of almost €10 million by year end. This means that expenditure will be in the region of €57.5 million in 2011, which is slightly higher than last year's outturn of €56.5 million, and substantially below the sum designated in the Estimate produced for the Department at the end of 2010. These figures illustrate the demand-led nature of the scheme, expenditure on which has increased despite the reduction of 10% in the fees payable at District Court level since July and in the Circuit and Higher courts since October of this year.
I was acutely aware of the budgetary pressures in this area and, as a result, I established a task force in April whose main objective was to identify areas of change relating to the structures and systems of the courts that could contribute to cost reductions in criminal legal aid. I am pleased to say that the task force assessed a range of issues in accordance with its terms of reference, identifying the procedural-structural limitations within the courts system that potentially add to the costs of criminal legal aid, the incentives within the system that might add to costs and the potential opportunities to simplify the delivery of criminal legal aid. Work is already under way in respect of a number of the areas identified to assist with the budgetary requirement to reduce expenditure. Reductions must be achieved in 2012.
There are also pressures in terms of immigration and asylum relating to the cost of judicial reviews. These costs are difficult to contain, as they are a function of the number of review cases taken and the progress of such cases through the courts system. There is a projected overrun of almost €5.6 million in the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS, subhead in the current year. These overruns have been offset by budgetary reductions in a range of areas throughout the Vote, including the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, the State pathology laboratory, the probation service and the Irish youth justice service.
It has been a challenging year on the budgetary front for the justice sector, primarily accounted for by the security costs of the State visits in May, which could not have been included in the original Estimate for the Vote because the visits had not been planned at the beginning of the year. The actual cost exceeded the original estimates for the visits, but this was largely due to the evolving security situation and arrangements that were only finalised in the immediate run-up to the visits.
In the circumstances, I am pleased that the net Supplementary Estimate for the group has been reduced to €27.4 million, including the one-off settlement to the Revenue Commissioners of €12.5 million in respect of the Garda Vote, which must be made this year. I recommend the Supplementary Estimate for the Garda Síochána and courts Votes and the technical Supplementary Estimate in respect of the Department of Justice and Equality Vote to the committee and I am happy to discuss any issue that members wish to raise.
