(Mayo): I thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for choosing this matter on the Adjournment this evening. The decision by gardaí to refuse to work the new £55 million PULSE computer system from midnight last night represents yet another crisis which might well have been averted had action and intervention by the Minister and his Department occurred at an earlier stage. Unfortunately, they did not act and the result is that we are now at an impasse where 1,400 state of the art computer terminals which should be fully functioning at Garda stations this morning are lying idle. This was the equipment that was going to be a vital instrument in the collection and accessing of files on criminal records, car registrations and firearms.
This system was not devised yesterday or today. It is three and a half years since the former Minister for Justice, Deputy Owen, announced the introduction of the PULSE technology and made £20 million available. The idea was that full training would be provided for gardaí using the system and that the system would be fully operational early in 1999. Apart from the updating of resources to fight crime, the danger that the existing system would be caused to malfunction by the Y2K bug was also a major consideration. While all kinds of assurances are being given by the Minister that normal policing is not affected, we are witnessing yet another in the long litany of debacles that have characterised this Minister's term of office.
What I cannot understand is how the crisis was not foreseen and forestalled. I cannot understand how the PULSE issue could not have been factored into the wage negotiations which have already taken place between the Garda representatives on the one hand and the Minister and his officials on the other. The two day "blue 'flu" in 1998 led to negotiations which eventually yielded a 9% increase in Garda pay. Why was the PULSE issue not sorted out as part of those negotiations? That was 18 months ago. Had the new system been included in the negotiations, today's stand-off need never have happened. Why was no attempt made to try to have the issue included in the recent offer of a 4.4% increase, albeit rejected? Why was it not dealt with during the long training and installation period? Why was it allowed to drag on to the eleventh hour so that today the screens of the new expensive computers which should be supplying vital crime data are blank?
Contrast this to the AFIS, automated fingerprinting system, introduced by the former Minister, Deputy Owen. It is a phenomenal success reducing the reading time for identifying fingerprints from 500 hours to a mere ten minutes. There was no industrial relations hitch because proper discussions and negotiations took place, and in good time.
Instead of meaningful and early discussions, we awoke this morning to learn from news bulletins that talks were still at the talks about talks stage. An offer of formal talks with the gardaí was still being considered by the Department. The Mini ster of State should convey to the Minister that he is responsible for the operation of the different sections of his Department. His officials, on his instructions, should have sat down at an early stage and resolved whatever difficulties were likely to arise but, unfortunately, this did not happen. The result is that instead of officially switching on the new system last night, the Minister has his representative here this evening answering questions and giving excuses why £55 million of taxpayers' technology lies paralysed and an old outdated system is still in use. There could well be court disruption also if gardaí are unable to provide judges with defendants' previous criminal records.
The Minister of State should tell the Minister that the past two weeks have been bad for the criminal justice system, with three bank raids, two unopened prisons, two prison suicides, court cases collapsing because of wrong charges or shoddy preparation. That is simply not acceptable, but unfortunately this week promises to be no better.