Written Answers Nos. 142-151
142. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Defence the annual saving to his Department if spending on professional fees, including but not limited to legal, IT-related, accountancy and other advisory and consultancy fees, was reduced by 10%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26946/15]
View answerProfessional fees paid by my Department for 2014 amounted to €1.208m. In addition to the professional services referred to above, my Department also engages the services of civilian medical practitioners to provide primary care for the Permanent Defence Force when medical officers are not available or where specialist medical expertise is required. In 2014 my Department paid €3.68m to some 514 civilian medical service providers.
Based on 2014 figures a 10% reduction would give rise to annual savings of €120,875 on non medical professional services and €368,146 on medical professional services.
143. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Defence the annual saving to the Exchequer if the Minister's special advisers' salaries were capped at the first point of the principal officer grade, that is, €75,647; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26960/15]
View answerI have not appointed any special advisors in my role as Minister for Defence. All salary costs associated with my Special Advisors are met from the Vote of the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine.
144. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Defence the annual saving to his Department and the bodies under its aegis if the fees for all State agency, non-commercial State sponsored bodies and commercial semi-State board members were reduced by 25%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26975/15]
View answerThe only State body under the aegis of my Department is the Army Pensions Board.
The Army Pensions Board is an independent statutory body established under the Army Pensions Act, 1927. The Act specifies that the Board shall consist of a chairman and two ordinary members. The two ordinary members must be qualified medical practitioners of whom one must be an officer of the Army Medical Corps. The chairman and the non military ordinary member are appointed by the Minister for Defence with the concurrence of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The Army Medical Corps ordinary member is appointed by the Minister for Defence on the recommendation of the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces. The chairperson is in receipt of an annual fee of €7,618.
The annual savings to the Exchequer, if the annual fee paid to the chairperson of Army Pensions Board was reduced by 25%, would be €1,905.
145. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality when the next recruitment will take place to An Garda Síochána; the number of persons it is proposed to recruit; if priority will be given to those already prioritised under previous recruitment processes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26452/15]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that I have received sanction from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for two further intakes of 125 Garda recruits later this year. The Public Appointments Service (PAS) is managing the recruitment process for the Garda Commissioner and I have no direct involvement in the matter.
The position in relation to the current competition is as follows. Following receipt of 24,000 applications, PAS invited candidates to complete Stage 1 of the competition which consisted of an assessment questionnaire and reasoning tests which were undertaken online. I understand that around 18,000 candidates completed this stage and fewer than 13,000 candidates reached a satisfactory standard. Those who did achieve a satisfactory standard were placed in three bands determined by their overall scores. 5,000 candidates (i.e. those in Band 1) were invited to take a subsequent series of tests and of that number, just over 3,000 were successful. To date the top 2,000 approximately from that group have been invited to supervised assessments and interviews.
I understand that PAS is continuing to progress Band 1 through the selection process and interviewing for that group will conclude in August. The names of candidates who qualify through these initial rounds will be forwarded to the Garda Commissioner for further consideration. Depending on the Commissioner's recruitment requirements, PAS will then move to those in Band 2 and possibly Band 3, if necessary.
146. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the total amount spent by her Department on tackling drug-related crime in each of the years 2009 to 2014; the estimated spend in 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26481/15]
View answerThe Deputy will appreciate that the problem of drug misuse has significant implications for the criminal justice system and the agencies that work therein.
Services such as the Prison, Courts and Probation Services all deal with drug related matters as part of their core daily services involving costs which would be difficult to quantify. Having said that certain data is collated for EU data collection purposes on an annual basis. Within that framework, details of expenditure by my Department is collated with regard to a range of activities. This includes, for example, funding in areas such as community based addiction projects supported by the Probation Service, Garda Youth Diversion Projects and the criminal justice related costs associated with the Drug Treatment Court and the National Drug Related Deaths Index.
The estimated total costs in this regard for the period 2009-2015 inclusive, are shown in the following table.
Table 1- Estimated drug related expenditure, Department of Justice & Equality 2009-2015
|
Year |
Expenditure €m |
|
2009 |
€14.801m |
|
2010 |
€14.478m |
|
2011 |
€18.681m |
|
2012 |
€18.580m |
|
2013 |
€18.553m |
|
2014 |
€18.762m |
|
2015* |
€18.928m |
*Anticipated spend
147. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide a breakdown of the total value of the illicit drugs market; if she will provide a further breakdown of value by each drug type; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26482/15]
View answerThe Deputy will appreciate that the illicit nature of such markets make it difficult to quantify their value. Having said that I have referred the Deputy's question to An Garda Síochána to provide any available information in this regard. I will be in further contact with the Deputy when that information is to hand.
148. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of times since the current Government took office that she has met directly the Minister for Health to discuss the national drugs strategy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26483/15]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016 adopts a comprehensive and pillar based approach to the problem of drug misuse, across the five pillars of drug supply reduction, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and research. The Strategy is founded on a partnership approach with Government Departments, State Agencies and the Community and Voluntary sectors working collectively to tackle the problem of drug misuse. The Strategy is being led out under the stewardship of my colleague the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mr. Aodhán Ó Ríordáin T.D.
Implementation of the Strategy is monitored by the Oversight Forum on Drugs which is chaired by Minister of State Ó Ríordáin. The Forum includes representatives of both State and non-governmental bodies, including the Department of Health and my own Department, reflecting the ongoing multi-agency and multi-sectoral approach in tackling this issue. Under this remit the Minister of State also reports on the National Drugs Strategy to the Cabinet Committee on Social Policy and Public Service Reform which is chaired by An Taoiseach and on which both the Minister for Health and myself sit having regard to our respective remits.
I understand the Deputy's question to relate to the development of the new National Drugs Strategy. In this regard, Minister Varadkar, prior to the appointment of Minister of State Ó Ríordáin, was in contact with me with regard to planning for this work. The development of the new Strategy for the period post 2016 will now be taken forward by Minister of State Ó Ríordáin in consultation with the stakeholders.
149. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if GoSafe speed cameras are capable of detecting motorbikes; if so, the number of motorbikes in respect of which penalty points were issued as a result of GoSafe cameras in 2013, 2014 and to date in 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26490/15]
View answerI am informed by the Garda authorities that safety camera vans are capable of detecting motorbikes. I am further informed that the number of Fixed Charge Notices issued by An Garda Síochána in respect of individual categories of vehicles, including motorbikes, is not available.
150. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will clarify, of the 700 migrants her Department claims are coming to Ireland in a recent spike in immigration numbers, the number who are seeking asylum, and of those seeking asylum, their nationalities; the number of persons who were refused permission to enter the country and turned away; the reason this is putting pressure on public and immigration services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26515/15]
View answerI assume the Deputy is referring to the increase in asylum applications in 2015 to date compared with the same period last year. 1,147 new asylum applications were received to the end of May this year compared with 492 for this period in 2014. On average 230 applications have been received per month in 2015. The top five source countries for applications in 2015 are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Albania, Nigeria, and Malawi. These countries account for almost 70% of the applications received to end May. The sharpest increases relate to applications from Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals.
In accordance with the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) asylum applicants may make an asylum application at the frontier of the State and are given permission to enter and remain in the country pending the final outcome of their application.
Sharp increases in asylum applications such as those experienced in the last 12 months puts pressure on all areas of the system including the protection processing and appeal bodies; the Direct Provision system which provides bed, board, and ancillary services to asylum seekers; and health and welfare services.
151. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Justice and Equality her views on a matter (details supplied) regarding the Sports Coalition and firearms regulations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26519/15]
View answerAs part of the consultation process for the ongoing review of firearms licensing I have given a commitment that I would not make any decisions until I had met the key stakeholders, including the organisations who represent those who use firearms for sporting purposes. I had a useful meeting with the key stakeholders on 29 April 2015. Consideration of the issues involved, including the Sports Coalition proposals, is continuing. I intend to conclude consideration of the issues in the near future.
