Some 160 civilian staff will be employed at a new Garda administration centre by September, in an effort to free gardaí from desk jobs and enhance front line policing, it has emerged.
However, while the Government plans to have the new centre fully operational to coincide with the September launch of the Garda Reserve, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has insisted the reserve is going ahead as planned.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) and Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi) have consistently argued for more civilian posts to be created. They believe it would result in gardaí being returned to the beat, thus negating the need for the mooted reserve force.
Staff at the new centre in Castlebar, Co Mayo, will be employed to operate the cumbersome Police Using Leading Systems Effectively (Pulse) computer database.
At present gardaí who arrest suspects or encounter any incidents while on duty must enter the details on the force's computer database.
Any intelligence gathered from informants must also be entered onto the Pulse system.
Gardaí have long complained that the system is so slow it often takes them up to a full shift to enter details that have been generated on their previous shifts.
Many Garda stations, particularly in rural areas, do not have access to the Pulse system. That means members must travel to the nearest station and enter the details there.
The information must be recorded if the correct legal documentation about criminal charges, court appearances and traffic infringements is sent to members of the public. The court service computer also uses details entered on Pulse in the course of running much of the administration around the judicial system.
Some 115 staff have already been recruited from other Government departments to the new information centre which will be run by the Department of Justice. Most of these were freed up by the Department of Agriculture as a result of Common Agricultural Policy (Cap) reforms.
Around 100 Department of Agriculture staff based in Castlebar faced an uncertain future because of the introduction of an EU single payment grant system to farmers.
A Government inter-departmental committee recommended earlier this year that the workers could help free Garda personnel to get on with police work by assisting in the entry of data on to Pulse. A competition advertising the remaining 45 jobs at the Castlebar centre attracted 2,044 applications.
Staff at the centres will take information by phone from gardaí on a 24-hour basis. They will input this directly into the Pulse system. Gardaí can also call staff at the centre while they are on the beat and can request them to check details on Pulse.
