Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 May 2004
5 Mr. J. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will honour the commitment to recruit 2,000 additional gardaí as promised in the programme for Government; the steps he has taken to expand the training capacity at Templemore; the cost projections relating to these matters made at the time of inclusion in the programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12872/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government remains committed to increasing the strength of the Garda Síochána by 2,000. As Members will be aware, progress towards this target was temporarily delayed by the introduction in the 2002 budget of a cap on public service numbers. This cap represented an important element of the Government's prudent management of the State's finances. I am keeping the matter under continuing review and will ask the Government to reconsider how quickly budgetary circumstances will permit progress to resume.
The recruitment of such a significant number of additional gardaí will require the capacity of the Garda College at Templemore to be enhanced. The cost and logistics of this process will be factored into the recruitment plan. In the meantime, the Government has exempted the Garda Síochána from any share in the planned reduction in public service numbers and authorised an increase in the strength of the force to a historic high of 12,200. The capacity of the Garda College is being utilised to the maximum degree. A total of 690 recruits were admitted to the college in 2003 with a view to achieving the total figure by 2004.
I wish to get the numbers clear. When the commitment to increase by 2,000 the number of gardaí was outlined in the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil manifestos, there were approximately 12,000 members of the force.
There were 11,800.
Honouring the commitment would involve bringing the numbers in the force up to approximately 13,800. Does the Minister accept that the increase in the two years since the last election has been less than 200?
Apart from political motives, will the Minister confirm that when the commitment was made, there was seen to be a real need to increase Garda resources? Does the Minister accept that the need is as great, if not greater, to provide the extra gardaí now? The country is suffering in their absence.
I confirm that the commitment to increase the size of the Garda Síochána to approximately 13,800 was based on a perception of a real need of the community. There continues to be an objective need to increase the strength of the force. There is increased pressure on Garda resources in many areas of Irish life, including drug abuse, road traffic law enforcement and immigration law. In these areas, the community is demanding increased specialisation. Increased urbanisation is a phenomenon of which we are all aware. Crime tends to accompany urbanisation. As the balance in a community tips from rural to urban, crime tends to increase. The population is rising and there is a need to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in the force. There are a number of pressing demands on the basis of which we should increase the numbers in the Garda Síochána.
It has frequently been suggested that the promise made was cynical and immediately cast aside, but I wish Deputy Jim O'Keeffe to note that it was not. Upon my appointment as Minister, I was directed by the Taoiseach to go to my desk the following morning to set about the implementation of the programme for Government. In June and July of 2002, I was in the process of setting down the recruitment programme to immediately make progress. That summer, budgetary circumstances demanded of Government that it make certain decisions. In short, the answer to the Deputy's question is simply that there was an objective need to increase the strength of the Garda and meeting that need continues to be a commitment.
There are many other needs including requirements to recruit, among others, more remedial teachers and doctors. While my ministerial responsibility is located in the justice sphere, I must take account as a member of Government of the national requirements of budgetary policy. I do not live in a vacuum and I cannot simply click my fingers while ignoring economic realities. To increase Garda numbers remains a commitment of the Government. It was a commitment entered into with the people at the time of the last election and it is not being abandoned.
While it may not have been abandoned, it is a promise made which has not been kept. As the Minister's reply indicates clearly, the need for extra gardaí is greater now. We cannot have a traffic corps, which has consequences, and we cannot have an organised crime unit, which has consequences also. The capacity of the Garda College is approximately 400 people on campus and 300 off campus. Were plans to increase that capacity put in place when the promise was made and has anything been done to achieve this goal? Is there greater capacity at Templemore than there was two years ago? Even if the Government were minded to keep its promise, is it not true that we are nowhere near having sufficient capacity to enable it to do so?
I confirm that the existing capacity of the Garda College is not sufficient to bring the force numbers up to 13,800 in the lifetime of the Government. Therefore, part of the planning process to achieve that end requires that we must expand capacity at Templemore. While preliminary discussions took place within my Department on the implications of this requirement, different economic circumstances developed in the summer of 2002 and it was considered that there were more significant priorities, including Garda overtime and other expenditure programmes within the Garda Síochána, which should be considered in the short term.
In answer to the Deputy's question, current facilities at Templemore would not be adequate to bring the strength of the Garda Síochána to 13,800 by 2007. Outsourcing of student accommodation and different modalities of training would have to be put in place if that were to be achieved in that short period.
I remind Members that only one minute is allowed for supplementary questions and replies.
