Written Answers Nos 111-115
111. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of occurrences and total number of days lost through sick absences in the case of members of the Prison Service, excluding civilians, in 2013 to the end of August 2014. [42358/14]
View answer112. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of occurrences and total number of days lost through self-certified sick absences in the case of members of the Prison Service, excluding civilians, in 2013 and to the end of August 2014. [42359/14]
View answer113. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of days self-certified sick leave allowed to a member of the Prison Service, excluding civilians, per year; and the regulations applied to the number of such days as a result of reform of the sick leave arrangements in the public service in 2014. [42360/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 111 to 113, inclusive, together.
I can advise the Deputy that the new Public Service Sick Leave Scheme came into effect from 31 March 2014. The Scheme is set out in the Public Service Management (Sick Leave) Regulations S.I. 124 of 2014 and, generally, applies to all public servants, including staff of the Irish Prison Service. The new Sick Leave Scheme was introduced, following the enactment of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments)(Amendment) Act 2013 by the Oireachtas.
The new provisions allow staff access to the following paid sick leave:
- a maximum of 92 days on full pay in a rolling one year period;
- followed by a maximum of 91 days on half pay in a rolling one year period;
- subject to a maximum of 183 days paid sick leave in a rolling four year period.
With regard to self-certified sick leave, the Scheme allows for:
- no more than 7 days of self-certified sick leave in a rolling 2 year period, counting backwards from the day before the latest date of absence;
- the duration of the absence on self-certified sick leave shall not be longer than 2 days in any instance.
There was a 38.3% decrease in the amount of self-certified sick leave taken by Irish Prison Service staff in 2013 compared to 2012. There has been a further reduction of almost 2% in the amount of such sick leave taken between January and August of this year compared to the same period last year. The figures requested by the Deputy in relation to self-certified sick leave are as follows:
|
Period |
Number of staff |
Number of days |
|
2013 |
2685 |
5485 |
|
Jan to Aug 2014 |
2311 |
3722 |
The figures requested by the Deputy in relation to overall sick leave in the Irish Prison Service are contained in the following table. In conjunction with the implementation of the revised sick leave regulations for civil servants, the Irish Prison Service has introduced a number of measures to manage sick leave, including; twice yearly sick leave review meetings in all prisons, a new attendance management policy, a new accommodations policy which aims to facilitate a return to work at the earliest opportunity, a focus on sick leave at monthly HR Governor meetings and greater monitoring of the application of the sick leave regulations across the prison estate.
There has been a 13.7% decrease in the amount of sick leave taken by staff of the Irish Prison between January and August of this year compared to the same period last year. This has resulted in a saving of over €700,000 and, through improved attendance, greater access to services for prisoners.
|
Period |
Number of staff |
Number of days |
|
2013 |
3041 |
41,226 |
|
Jan to Aug 2014 |
2806 |
24,021 |
114. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to give more powers to the Garda Reserve, particularly in respect of public order; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42392/14]
View answerThe range of powers and duties of Reserve Gardaí is a matter for the Garda Commissioner to determine under section 15 (5) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005. The duties of a Garda reserve member include the following:
- Station duty, other than the care and custody of prisoners.
- Assistant to the station orderly.
- Communications room duty, to include monitoring CCTV.
- Foot patrol, accompanied by a member of the full-time Garda service.
- Static security duty.
- Road Traffic checkpoint duties, accompanied by a full time member.
- Duty at the outer cordon of major events such as festivals and major sporting events.
- Assisting in the event of accidents, fires and major emergencies.
- Giving evidence in court.
- Community / Neighbourhood Policing.
The Garda Commissioner has also determined that the powers of reserve members will be confined to the enforcement of certain legislation including aspects of the Road Traffic Acts and the Public Order Acts.
Reserve members also have the power of arrest under the Criminal Law Act 1997, which provides powers of arrest for both members of the Garda Síochána and civilians.
The Commissioner, following an internal review of the Reserve, decided to extend their powers to include powers under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Acts 1994 to 2011, and Section 41 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as amended, in relation to the seizure of vehicles and the power to issue Fixed Charge Penalty Notices (FCPN) and serve summons.
I am informed by the Commissioner that the training of all the Garda Reserve in the new powers will be completed shortly.
115. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if she is satisfied with the process used by the Public Appointments Service recently to recruit new members to An Garda Síochána; if an online aptitude test was overly relied on resulting in a large numbers of suitable candidates being eliminated; if more candidates should have been interviewed as part of this process; her views on whether in the initial stages due recognition was given to any satisfactory service in the Garda Reserve by applicants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42393/14]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that the competition for recruitment to An Garda Síochána was run by the Public Appointments Service on behalf of the Garda Commissioner. I have requested the information sought by the Deputy from the Garda Commissioner and as soon as it is to hand I will pass it on to the Deputy.
With regard to members of the Garda Reserve, it is important that all persons wishing to join the full time force undergo the same competitive selection and recruitment process. The Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) Regulations 2013 provides that in a competition for full-time membership of An Garda Síochána, the Public Appointments Service shall take into account "any satisfactory service by the person as a reserve member of the Garda Síochána". This provision was introduced in order to acknowledge the beneficial experience and skills gained by a Reserve member and to allow them the opportunity to highlight that experience and skill at any stage of the selection process.
