Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 March 2013
7. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of Garda personnel whose specific role is the detection of crime, on a district basis for the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. [11571/13]
View answer12. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of dedicated drug units operational in An Garda Síochána on a division by division basis for the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. [11572/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 12 together.
All gardaí have a responsibility in the prevention and detection of criminal activity whether it be in the area of burglary, drug offences or otherwise. Specifically with regard to drugs, I can assure the Deputy that An Garda Síochána continues to proactively and resolutely tackle all forms of drug crime in this jurisdiction. The Garda national drugs unit works closely with dedicated divisional and district drug units and other national units, including the organised crime unit, as well as the Criminal Assets Bureau in targeting persons involved in the illicit sale and supply of drugs.
Regarding levels of crime across the country, the crime statistics for the 12 months ending on 30 September 2012 indicate reductions in 12 of the 14 crime groups. Crimes against the person, including homicide offences, are down 17.9%; sexual offences are down 0.7%; and assault and related offences are down 9.5%. Public order and damage to property offences are also down by 12% and 9.3% respectively, with drug offences down 7.1% and weapons and explosives offences down 17.4%. Burglaries, however, increased by 7.9% during the period. On the particular issue of burglaries, last year the Commissioner launched Operation Fiacla and as of the end of February 2013, 4,226 persons have been arrested and 2,327 persons have been charged under this operation.
The two separate tables show the strengths of the divisional drugs units at the end of each year from 2009 onwards and the Garda strength on a district basis from 2005 to 2012. Deputies will find that interesting. Details of the strengths of the divisional drugs units from 2005 to 2008, inclusive, are not readily available.
Will I have two minutes for each question?
We will look after the Deputy.
I may not need that long.
There is a limit of one minute but the Deputy can come in again.
That is grand. I submitted these questions because of dialogue with a number of gardaí in different parts of the State. They are concerned that in their districts, the dedicated focus on drugs and crime detection was being lessened by cutbacks and reallocation. In a number of places where I spoke to officers, they would have had considerable success in the area.
Garda units with mobile patrols can quickly get on top of burglaries, and there is still good intelligence between communities and gardaí in that regard. Mobile patrols remain a significant deterrent. This feeds into the overall picture from gardaí and the issue I have raised regarding pay, why they are so distressed and the reason morale is so low. They do not have the resources to do their job. There are lies, damn lies and statistics and we can engage back and forth in that regard. Nevertheless, the feedback from gardaí on the ground is that the dedicated focus in a number of these areas of law enforcement is being lessened by cutbacks.
I am advised by the Commissioner that the dedicated focus in these areas is appropriate in operational terms. I cannot deal with rumours or innuendo arising from the force, and I hear all sorts of stories. I get all kinds of weird and wonderful queries into the Department of Justice and Equality about things I have personally allegedly done or said to members of the force. They may be-----
Completely true.
-----a complete fabrication. Apparently, people say things and spread rumours that are untrue, and I cannot address such issues.
The Commissioner makes operational decisions about the Garda force and, in a sense, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The statistics indicate for 12 of 14 areas that crime is down. Although burglary rates are up, if one considers the figures to last September, rates decreased in comparison to the two preceding 12-month periods for the previous quarters. We will have figures at the end of this month for the end of 2012 that will provide additional insight. I am advised by the Garda Commissioner that there is a continuing targeted operational focus, particularly dealing with the issue raised by the Deputy of mobile gangs, burglaries and other issues. Operation Fiacla across the country and Operation Acer in Dublin are proving to be successful.
I have received feedback from officers both in an urban setting and in two rural settings. The feedback is that they are seeing less capacity to do their job and these gardaí are very frustrated. There was a wave of burglaries in Donegal but I am thankful there was a special operation to tackle that. We met the assistant commissioner and I applaud the Garda because it very quickly got on top of the issue, albeit with additional resources deployed on a short-term basis. That did the business.
I urge the Minister to engage with representative associations. I appreciate the Croke Park agreement issue and the Minister knows our position. We are not happy that those at the high end have not felt the same pain as those on the front line. We could go back and forth to argue about whether the Garda Representative Association should have been part of the talks. It has indicated it was never at the table. Somebody has failed the ordinary gardaí and those on the front line, with low morale, will take another hit on take-home pay. We must do something about it because there is a crisis of morale. If these people do not feel they have support in these Houses, it will bring consequences.
The Garda force has my absolute support and I fight for its resources. That is why I had €90 million more in 2012 than would otherwise have been available under the 2010 national development plan. That is not to get at Deputy Collins. That is why there is €5 million available, as a minimum sum, to purchase Garda vehicles. That did not feature in the 2010 plan sold to the troika by the previous Government. This is not about scoring points against Fianna Fáil but rather making the point that I fight within the Government to try to ensure we provide the maximum possible resources to the Garda Síochána.
We are living in a country with a reduced financial envelope. We still have major financial issues to address and we must reduce our borrowing requirements. We must do things differently, engaging in modern and smart policing to be as effective or even more effective than we were in the past, and we must do that with fewer resources. I have fewer euro available in 2013 than I had in 2012, and I had fewer in 2012 than was available in 2011. When Deputy Collins's colleagues were in government at the start of 2011, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform at the time had fewer available resources than he had in 2010.
There are fewer financial resources so it is very important to use them wisely and do things differently. When we make operational decisions we must be innovative. The Garda Commissioner and those working under him have been particularly successful in this regard, with the Donegal operation a case in point. Bad people appear in different parts of the country unexpectedly to create difficulties and targeted, smart operations of the nature conducted in Donegal are effective. I will not say anything more about that as people are coming before the courts.
The Minister frequently mentions here and elsewhere the issue of targeted campaigns by the Garda Síochána, smarter and more modern policing and doing things differently. He also talks of using resources wisely. At the same time he argues that everything is down to the operational discretion of the Garda Commissioner. Nevertheless, the dedicated drugs unit in Cavan and Monaghan, which has been highly successful, has been stood down. How many more dedicated drugs units have been stood down across the country? Why does the Minister not have an input in the re-establishment of dedicated drugs units, which have been very effective in curbing criminality around drugs and their proliferation? Why does the Minister not take ownership of that through the annual police plan, which he ultimately signs off? How many dedicated drugs units have been stood down?
The Minister is correct in that we are dealing with a backdrop of reduced resources. He might also agree that the biggest concern for citizens is the detection of crime so is he happy with the Garda Commissioner's decision to remove two gardaí from active duty and detection of crime because they reported incidents of malpractice within the Garda?End of Take
In return, they have been prevented from accessing PULSE and have been prevented from doing their job without the supervision of their sergeants.
Is the Minister aware of the instruction given on foot of the investigation of Assistant Commissioner O'Mahony that officers be removed from detection duties and instead put to work to examine penalty points retrospectively-----
I ask that Deputies not mention individuals by name.
-----and doctor the evidence, as it were?
I will not respond to yet another allegation made by the group across the way from me. The Members in question talk about respecting civil and human rights but in this House they have respect for no one's civil or human rights or reputation. Deputy Daly has named someone in the House and has suggested he is doctoring evidence. I ask the Deputy to withdraw that and to have the decency to do so. This House should not become a House in which people abuse privilege to make allegations they cannot substantiate.
On the issue of penalty points, I await the report that I know I am expected to receive during the course of this month. We will debate it after its publication. If there is anything arising from it that requires to be addressed by me, as Minister, it will be so addressed. If there is anything that requires to be addressed by the Garda Commissioner, it will be so addressed.
In the context of the issue the Deputy mentioned, I do not make operational decisions on where members of the force should be based, what work they should do or what supervision they should be under. However, I am conscious that various people who are not Members of this House have been named in public or in this House - the Deputy will know this because she has been engaged in it - by the Deputy's colleagues as if the individuals had done some wrong. I cannot recall whether the Deputy did it herself. The Deputy seems to believe it is appropriate that any information that might be available on the PULSE computer system should be simply published without consequences. There are consequences for the Garda's capacity to conduct an investigation. Issues arise under the Data Protection Act. I will say no more about those issues.
With regard to the query raised by Deputy Niall Collins, it would be highly inappropriate of me to make decisions on which units should operate in particular locations. These are operational decisions made by the Garda Commissioner.
The area of drugs, as the Deputy well knows, remains a high priority in the police plan of 2013. The Garda Síochána has been particularly successful in the past 12 to 18 months in respect of the very substantial drug hauls that have been achieved. I am informed that drugs valued in the region of €100 million were seized in the year ending December 2012.
