Garda Síochána garners over 50% of annual Justice Department budget
The proportion of the department’s budget allotted to policing is likely to increase as the size of the force is increased by 2,000 to 14,000 over the next three years.
In his foreword to the report, Justice Minister Michael McDowell reiterated that the target of 14,000 officers would be achieved by 2008, and that the new Traffic Corps would have 1,200 gardaí assigned to it by then.
Mr McDowell said good progress had been achieved in relation to the department’s overall strategies and objectives during 2004, a year in which he said Justice had played an active role in Ireland’s EU Presidency.
Some 20,000 people work under the aegis of Justice, including 800 civil servants in its head office.
The department pointed out that there was an overall reduction in headline crime of 4% in 2004 when compared with 2003, including reductions in the numbers of murders and sexual assaults. The report specifies many of the decreases but does not do so for the 10 headline crime categories that recorded increases.
The report also discloses that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal paid out a total of €2.2m during 2004 to victims of crime. The highest award was one of €261,263.
It also confirms the continuing reduction in the number of people making asylum applications. The number of applications received in 2004 was 4,766 compared with 7,900 in 2003 - a 40% reduction.
“Since Ireland’s peak of 11,634 applications received in 2002, there has been a reduction of some 59%.”
Almost 3,000 deportation orders were made during the year. There were seven charter flights carrying deported people back to Eastern European and West African destinations, the highest number since flights began in 2001. The seven flights transferring 274 deportees cost €775,929, an average of €2,800 per person. The highest cost was for a flight carrying one detainee to Gambia in February 2004 - over €50,000.
