Call centre freeing up Garda officers, claims Government

A 24-hour call centre in Co Mayo which inputs garda reports into the Pulse system is freeing-up officers to fight crime on the beat, it was claimed today.

Telecoms firm Vodafone recently secured a contract to supply a telephone network to the facility in Castlebar.

Gardaí in the local district can simply phone in incident reports and they are typed into the Pulse system by surplus clerical staff recruited from the local decentralised Agriculture Department.

Justice Department secretary general Sean Alyward today told the Public Accounts Committee that the initiative would substantially free up gardaí on the beat.

“Instead of gardaí having to go back to the station to type up an incident report, they can phone it into the centre in Castlebar and have it entered into the system,” he said.

“This represents a phenomenal saving in valuable garda staff time so the garda can continue to operate at the front line rather than keep returning to the station and typing his report from scratch.

“The system is there to facilitate gardaí on the beat.”

The PAC was discussing the contract by 02 to supply 1,000 free mobile phones to senior gardaí in return for garda stations being used as sites for phone masts.

The contract, which began in 1997 and was renewed in 2002, is due to expire in June this year.

Assistant Garda Commissioner Pat Crummey said that every quarter, nine assistant commissioners vet each bill submitted from superintendents.

Mr Crummey added: “I’m not going to say that I go down through every single phone call that is recorded and listed. What I do is I look for abnormally high bills.

“I have in the past approached quite senior people in my area of responsibility about the size of their phone bills and I was satisfied because of the nature of their work and foreign travel involved, that there was good reason for the expenditure incurred.”

The O2 masts were also specifically designed to cater for current and future garda requirements.

All mobile phones were also able to phone garda landlines for free.

Every superintendent in the force was entitled to a mobile phone and he or she also distributed an additional allocation to senior officers.

Ass Cmmr Crummey said that the mobile phones were never intended to replace the analogue radio system, but they provided greater contactability for officers.

Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins said: “Gardaí make calls when they have to make them and if they don’t have this company’s phone and if they don’t have an adequate radio communication, they have no option – unless they use smoke signals – to use their personal mobile phone.”

Office of Public Works chairman Sean Benton confirmed to Mr Higgins that the state was indemnified against all future claims relating to possible electromagnetic radiation from the masts.

Mr Higgins told the committee: “We don’t really know what the long term health effects of this electromagnetic radiation and perhaps it could be quite damaging to health over an extended period of time.

“Isn’t it possible that you are exposing people in the vicinity of these, including state employees to potential grave risks and exposing the state to huge liabilities down the line.

“If that sounds alarmist, if somebody had raised a similar point about deafness in the army 20 years ago, we would have been laughed at.”

Mr Benton said the OPW took seriously the health and safety of staff and people within the community.

“We’re extremely concerned about these issues and that’s why we’ve ensured that all our contracts require all operators to meet all national and international health and safety standards. Not only those that exist now but also those which may be introduced in the future.

“The companies indemnify the Office of Public Works against any future claims.”

Mr Higgins also queried the €108m spent on renting premises during 2004.

Mr Benton explained that the OPW would build its own offices if it was based in an area for an indefinite period of time.

“If the OPW wasn’t renting, it would be building,” he added.