Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 July 2015
155. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of civilian staff currently working in An Garda Síochána; her plans to further civilianise border control functions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26542/15]
View answerThe number of civilians in An Garda Síochána has increased in recent years from 1,688 at the end of 2007 to approximately 2,032 (whole time equivalents) as of 30 April 2015. Civilians are employed in a wide range of management, administrative, technical and operational duties, including Chief Administration Officer, Executive Director of Finance, Executive Director of Human Resources and Personnel Development, Crime Analysts, Head of Legal Affairs, clerical officers, photographers.
Apart from the above posts and the administrative support duties in Garda stations and offices, civilianisation has also enabled the establishment or expansion of some vital services which are wholly or largely provided by civilian staff – including the Garda National Immigration Bureau, the Garda Information Service Centre, the Garda Central Vetting Unit, the Fixed Charge Processing Office, and the civilianisation of the call taking function in the Command and Control Centre. The Deputy will also be aware of the process which is currently ongoing to civilianise border control functions at Dublin airport and the transfer of these responsibilities from An Garda Síochána to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department. The first phase of that project is now completed with civilian staff of INIS operating all passport controls in Terminal 1 on a 24/7 basis from 22 June, 2015. The project is on schedule to be completed by the end of the year when civilian staff will be operating on a 24/7 basis in both Terminals of Dublin Airport. I am also looking at deploying civilian officers to other major ports of entry to the State where this makes sense from a cost and efficiency perspective.
It is intended to continue to maximise the number of civilian support staff in An Garda Síochána so that highly trained Gardaí can be released from administrative tasks to frontline operational policing.
