Gardaí are "totally frustrated and annoyed" with the PULSE computer system and believe that it has increased - rather than reduced - bureaucracy, a Garda representative said yesterday.
Mr Michael Kirby, president of the Garda Representative Association, said that the system was hampering gardaí in their work and forcing them to spend hours at their desks instead of on patrol.
The system was much slower than had been anticipated and it frequently crashed, he said. "For every two hours out on the street, our members have to spend four or five hours back at the desk, inputting this information."
The system had the worst effect on the busiest gardaí, as they had the most information to process, Mr Kirby said. It was designed to reduce bureaucracy, but it was having the opposite effect.
Mr Kirby was speaking after Judge Gerard Haughton criticised the computer system during a case in the Dublin District Court.
Judge Haughton said that the system appeared to be "totally and utterly unreliable". He said that he had frequently been given details of certain convictions which could not be correct. He wondered what effect this was having on the crime figures.
Mr Kirby said that the problems were arising in courts because PULSE was not linked with the courts system, so court staff could not enter the convictions directly into the Garda system.
"That's solvable, but the slowness of the system is a different matter."
Mr Kirby said that the GRA had made representations to Garda management and had been told that the system was being examined.
PULSE was introduced three years ago at a cost of more than €60 million.
The introduction of the system was controversial, with gardaí threatening to boycott it. Agreement was reached at the end of 1999 after a special package - above the terms of the social partnership agreement - was finalised.
