Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 December 2013
394. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which the technology available to the Garda remains up to date and in keeping with requirements to assist its efforts in the prevention and detection of crime; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53084/13]
View answer396. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which the technical equipment available to An Garda Síochána is on a par with best practice in other jurisdictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53086/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 394 and 396 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda authorities are continually looking to employ new technologies to achieve their goals and to contribute to the services they provide. This is a policy that is designed to ensure that the Garda Síochána will be in a position to take advantage of proven up to date technological developments to tackle crime and to meet the additional needs of an effective police force.
In particular, considerable progress has been made within the Garda Force in the field of modern technological support. In addition to a class-leading computer system, PULSE, these include the full roll-out of the state of the art National Digital Radio System, the Automated Fingerprint Information System and Automated Number Plate Recognition. In addition I might mention that a dedicated Garda data entry service is operating very successfully in Castlebar and it has freed up substantial resources for operational duties.
