Vol. 560 No. 5
4 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will adopt the recommendations of the Deloitte & Touche report for the National Bureau of Crime Investigation to set up a specialised Garda unit to combat organised crime. [3048/03]
In November 1997 the Government accepted in principle the recommendations set out in the report of the steering group on the efficiency and effectiveness of the Garda Síochána. That review was conducted in the framework of the strategic management initiative, SMI, throughout the public service. The report contained a number of recommendations requiring a more comprehensive development of issues relating to the organisation, operations, financing, performance and accountability of the Garda Síochána.
In January 1998 the Government established a new Garda SMI implementation steering group to develop the report's recommendations for implementation. To this end, the bottom-up review group, BURG, was established in 1999 to focus on organisation structures and systems and the deployment of resources and to bring recommendations to the steering group in the areas for which it was responsible. It was also to bring with it the Garda Representative Association and Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors to ensure full involvement at all levels in the process of change in the Garda Síochána.
Since 1999 considerable progress has been made in a major review of the Garda Síochána organisational structures and service delivery. Many projects have been completed and implementation of recommendations approved by the steering group is already under way.
The report on the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation referred to by the Deputy is part of the third and final phase of the SMI steering group's work programme which is nearing completion. I will bring forward soon a major reforming statute to reorganise the Garda Síochána and its management systems and to provide for a Garda inspectorate. I hope to publish that legislation in the next session of the House after Easter.
With all due respect, I sometimes agree with Deputy Costello that the Minister does not answer the question asked of him. We are talking in this question about organised crime. The recommendations of the report are stark. The report refers to few, if any, members of the Garda Síochána being available for constant, proactive targeting of organised crime. It has been identified as a key weakness. The report goes on to say that no other part of the Garda Síochána is resourced or tasked to fulfil this role. Considering what has happened in Limerick and elsewhere, surely it has been proven that we need a dedicated unit within the Garda Síochána to deal with organised crime? Will the Minister answer that question?
The Deputy will be aware that reorganisation of the Garda Síochána is about to reach a conclusion. We are in the third and final phase. In that, the exact arrangements for tackling organised crime will be considered as part of the SMI process.
The Deputy will also be aware, as other Deputies have commented in recent days, that there is a belief within the Garda Síochána that I should not establish a proliferation of specialised units at the heart of the force if the result is that I leave the ordinary rank and file and day to day Garda activity relegated to second class status. I fully accept the point the Deputy makes and it is necessary to adopt different tactics and counter-measures in respect of organised crime. I assure the Deputy that the commissioner and I will, as part of the SMI process and bringing the representative associations with us, discuss the proper basis on which to establish bodies to undertake the struggle against organised crime.
However, units specialising in, for example, the investigation of drugs crimes or the theft of valuable artefacts already take on organised crime, as does the Criminal Assets Bureau. The point was made strongly in the previous question that organised crime and the drugs trade overlap substantially and that outside that trade organised crime is not seen by many as an independently serious criminal threat. Whether it makes sense to subdivide the battle against organised crime into two discrete categories, one fighting organised crime outside the drugs area and the other within, is a matter for judgment and I want to think carefully on it.
It is easy to devise a new logo, hold a press conference and announce that I have established a new unit. There is nothing easier to do and there are plenty of public relations men coming to my Department with such proposals. If I am to undertake the battle against the drug pushing confraternity, I do not want to split my forces into two categories: organised crime and organised drug pushing.
I will allow a brief and final supplementary question.
Ordinary rank and file gardaí are already depleted and that is why we find ourselves in this situation.
The Deputy is mistaken. The Garda Síochána is at a record high in strength.
So is crime.
Yes, and doubtless it will continue to grow. There is a pattern throughout western Europe of a growth in crime. The Deputy will have to accept that it is a cruel irony of being Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform that the more gardaí are patrolling the street and the more they detect crime, the worse the crime figures and the higher the mountain that appears to have been climbed.
We have a record number of members of the Garda Síochána. The force is working at a record level of strength and producing results that have never been better. I reject the suggestions constantly made by the Opposition that inadequate numbers in the Garda Síochána are the root cause of the growing crime rate, but they are not.
It is low morale in the force.
