Almost €2.5bn Spending Confirmed For The Justice Sector

The Revised Estimates dealing with spending for 2016 for the Justice and Equality sector have been presented to the Dáil by Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald.

The Estimates provide for over €2.458 billion in gross spending across the eight individual votes in the Justice Group.

The Tánaiste said: "This funding is an increase of more than 6% on the corresponding Revised Estimates for 2015. An additional allocation of €55 million will be made available for the remainder of 2016 – this includes €5m announced in February. I am very pleased to have secured substantial additional funding for An Garda Síochána as they face unprecedented challenges.

"I have consistently made it clear that we would fund whatever measures were needed for An Garda Síochána to tackle the cycle of revenge and murder we have seen in parts of Dublin city. This extra funding will bolster the fight against these thugs, who will be ultimately defeated.

"Additional resources have also been made available to the continued intensive and strategic targeting of burglaries and related crime through ongoing support for Operation Thor and the continued support for measures against international terrorism. The total additional funding for the Garda Vote in 2016 will amount to over €126 million by the end of 2016."

The Garda Síochána Vote is the largest individual vote accounting for 64% of all expenditure. Spending for Garda includes the additional exchequer funding of €40 million announced recently. In addition, a further €15 million will be reallocated to Garda from elsewhere within the Vote Group in a technical measure later in the year. In total, the overtime budget for the Garda Vote will be over €90 million by year end, more than double the original provision.

• Garda Pay €971 million – including an overtime budget of €91.5 million

• ICT Capital – €34 million including the first tranche of the capital investment plan of €205 million. In total, €330 million, including €205 million under the Capital Plan, is being invested in Garda ICT infrastructure between 2016 and 2021 to enable An Garda Síochána to deploy the latest cutting edge technologies in the fight against crime.

• Building Capital – €50 million for the contractual costs of the construction of three new Divisional Headquarters as well as a refurbishment programme of stations throughout the country.

• Garda Fleet - €6 million - Investment in a modern, effective and fit-for-purpose Garda fleet will continue under the Capital Plan 2016-2021 which provides €46 million for new Garda vehicles, ensuring that Gardaí can be mobile, visible and responsive on the roads and in the community to prevent and tackle crime. This is in addition to €34 million already invested in the fleet since 2012, with over 720 new vehicles coming on stream since the start of 2015.

• A new vote this year supporting the Policing Authority (Vote 41) has a gross estimate of €2.7 million which provides for the running costs of the Authority.

• Justice and Equality Vote (Vote 24) has a gross estimate provision of over €411 million

• Prisons Vote (Vote 21) in 2016 is €332 million, including increased payroll of €6.5 million which will allow for critical vacancies to be filled.

• €109.7 million is being provided for the Courts Service (Vote 22) in 2016 allowing for the appointment of circa 30 additional staff who will be assigned to support additional courts sitting required by the Presidents of the various Courts. This also supports the development of new courthouses in Drogheda, Letterkenny, Limerick and Wexford while substantial refurbishment and extension works to courthouses in Cork, Mullingar and Waterford.

(MH)