The Public Service (Croke Park) Agreement is facilitating a major change and transformation programme across the Justice and Equality sector. Overall, services have been maintained while the numbers employed across the Vote Group for which I am responsible have fallen from 24,768 at end 2009 to the current Employment Control Framework (ECF) target of 22,610. In addition, the Agreement has, against the backdrop of substantial pay cuts in the public service, helped to maintain industrial peace in the Justice and Equality sector.
The Implementation Body on the Public Service Agreement, in its recently published second Progress Report, confirmed that the following tangible results have been delivered across the Justice and Equality sector.
An Garda Síochána:
Operational services being maintained while numbers of gardaí were reduced by 7.7% from 14,753 to 13,622 during the first two years of the Agreement. New roster arrangements, the first significant change in 40 years, were rolled out on a national basis from 30 April 2012. The new arrangements match the supply of Garda personnel to peak demand for services, particularly at weekends.
A new performance management system has been developed for An Garda Síochána and piloting of the new system commenced in January 2012.
Civilianisation initiatives were progressed to free up gardaí for front-line duties. These include the deployment of civilian staff to the Garda Communications Centre and the launch of a pilot project at Dublin Airport with civilian staff from the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) deployed to Dublin Airport to carry out certain immigration control functions.
Non-pay savings of €24 million were achieved through changed working practices, outsourcing of repair and maintenance of the Garda fleet and other administrative efficiencies.
Irish Prison Service:
A joint task review of all institutions and services in the prison system has been substantially completed under the Agreement. The implementation of the findings of the reviews in each institution and service is ongoing and has facilitated the reduction in required staffing levels across the prison estate by 326 during the first two years of the agreement. This reduction in staff has taken place while service activity levels have been maintained, and improved in the case of prisoner regimes.
The redeployment of almost 140 highly trained prison clerical and administration Officers into more front-line roles within the Prison Service is underway. These Officers will be replaced in their clerical and administration duties by a new grade of Prison Administration and Support Officers, recruited from currently serving Civil Servants in other areas of the Civil Service at a significantly reduced cost.
A reform of prison structures and management is currently taking place involving the merging of eight separate prisons into three Prison Campus structures in the Mountjoy Campus (Mountjoy Prison, St Patrick's Institution, the Dóchas Centre and the Training Unit), the West Dublin Campus (Cloverhill and Wheatfield prisons) and the Portlaoise Campus (Portlaoise and Midlands prisons). These structures will deliver significant savings in terms of reduced management structure and shared service delivery across a number of prisons. A review of the management structures across all other prisons is currently taking place to facilitate the identification of further efficiencies.
Non-pay savings of €6.5 million were achieved by the Prison Service through the reconfiguration of canteen and cleaning services, the implementation of a new prisoner phone system and efficiencies in procurement.
Courts Service:
Front-line court sittings have been prioritised and maintained while implementing staffing reductions of 11% since 2009. 87% of Courts Service staff are now deployed to front-line roles. In this context to date under the agreement combined court offices have been established in eight counties while three stand-alone offices have been closed. The Courts Service Board has taken decisions to close 16 court venues over the past year.
Digital Audio Recording is now being operated by staff in all court jurisdictions.
Five County Registrars have been appointed as Vice chairs of the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Non pay savings of €0.9 million were achieved.
In addition, several cross-sectoral initiatives are achieving savings and producing efficiencies. These include: the production by the Probation Service of "same day" Community Service and pre-sanction reports; increased use of video-link between the Courts and Prisons reducing the need for the Gardaí and Prison Service to transport persons in custody to and from court and work has commenced on the introduction of a pre-trial procedure with a view to introduction on a pilot basis in two Circuits from this coming October.
The Department and agencies in the sector are also utilising technology, rationalising structures and re-organising work practices as part of their Implementation Plans. is yielded non-pay savings of approximately €6.8 million including savings achieved by INIS of €2.4 million through changed work practices and other efficiencies and savings of €3.6 million in the direct provision system for asylum seekers through increased efficiencies and contract negotiation. At the same time, additional workloads associated with the introduction of new Citizenship ceremonies require flexibility from staff including weekend working when required.
The Implementation Plans of the Department and of all the agencies in the sector together with progress reports are published on their websites. My Department has set up a Programme Office, centrally located in the Department, to co-ordinate these plans in order to drive reform in a cohesive way.
Overall, considerable progress has been made and I am satisfied with the pace of reform but I share the Implementation Body's conclusion that the pace of change must now be accelerated. My Department is increasingly focused on maximising interagency co-operation where that has the potential to achieve savings and ensuring that modern management practices and communications technologies are fully exploited to get the best return on expenditure not only from agencies themselves but from the system as a whole. Later this year I intend to publish a White Paper on Crime which will incorporate a National Anti-Crime Strategy with a view to putting in place a policy direction and framework for tackling crime. The Strategy will promote an integrated approach to criminal justice and will be focused on the transformation agenda.
