John Bruton
Ceist:9 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach his views on the strategy statement recently published by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14667/97]
Ceisteanna — Questions. - DPP Strategy Statement.
I wish to compliment the Director of Public Prosecutions and his staff on the preparation of the statement of strategy for his office for the period 1997-2000. I very much welcome the effort made to establish goals for the office and to set overall performance indicators. I also commend the emphasis placed in the statement on good human resource management.
A number of the issues raised in the statement, particularly the one relating to a unified prosecution system, were considered by the review group on the State's legal offices. The review group, which was chaired by the former Attorney General, recommended further study of those issues. The Government will shortly consider the report of the review group which was presented to the former Taoiseach shortly before he left office and our decisions will be announced in due course.
Does the Taoiseach accept the need for additional staff in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and will he indicate his plans in that regard?
That issue was brought to my notice in recent weeks. The present staffing of the office, excluding the DPP, is 30, 14 of whom are in the legal grades, two of whom are job sharing and 16 of whom are in the general service grades. While the level of staffing has improved — Deputy Bruton was involved in ensuring this — there are still issues which need to be addressed. The Deputy will be familiar with the requirements of publishing the annual report. I have discussed this and the other matters raised in the two excellent reports produced by the DPP and the review group on the State's legal offices.