The civilianisation of the Garda has become protracted but progress is finally being made, writes Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent
Last November two reports published on the same day underlined just how outdated the structure of An Garda Síochána had become. One word jumped out from almost every page: civilianisation.
The Garda Síochána Inspectorate recommended the civilianisation of posts in the Garda's highest echelons.
It also strongly recommended the wider accelerated recruitment of junior clerical officers to carry out administrative duties for Garda members, thus freeing them up for frontline duties.
The head of the inspectorate Kathleen O'Toole pulled no punches when she said the meagre levels of civilian staff to support the Garda were up to 20 years out of step with police forces in other western countries.
She proposed key positions be taken out of the hands of sworn officers such as director of human resources, director of finance, director of information technology, director of communications and legal adviser.
These recommendations have been acted on, with positions having already been filled or the recruitment process begun.
The inspectorate's proposals were echoed by the second expert group report, that of the Advisory Group on Garda Management and Leadership.
The advisory group, which was chaired by then senator Maurice Hayes, also pointed out the real impediment to the recruitment of the large numbers of civilian clerical officers - the moratorium on the recruitment to the public service introduced in the 2002 budget to cut costs.
But before then, civilianisation of the Garda had been long mooted. Indeed, as far back as 1975 consultants recommended it as a means to get gardaí from behind desks and back on to the beat.
But in 1979 the Ryan Commission recommended certain clerical posts should always be filled by members of the force because they required the post holder to have knowledge and experience of policing.
Other sources point out that Garda members, who are barred from taking industrial action, are needed in clerical posts in order that the force's work would not grind to a halt if the civilian workers went on strike.
However, while the Garda representative associations want their members to be supported by civilian clerical officers, there has always been a discomfort on their part about allowing too many civilians displace Garda members from too many posts.
This less than total commitment to the process conspired with a reluctance on the part of the government to spend the money needed to hire the civilians. And so the years ticked by and little was done.
But by 2005 the general election was looming and organised crime flexed its muscle in a way not seen since Veronica Guerin's murder.
The then minister for justice Michael McDowell was becoming increasingly embattled over rising gangland murder rates and a spate of armed robberies on cash delivery vans. He needed to add civilian and Garda members to the force to persuade the public that the government was doing all it could.
As well as being given the funding to recruit the long-promised 2,000 additional Garda members, the civilianisation process was revived to put more gardaí back on the beat.
In February 2005 the Department of Justice secured government approval to take on 300 clerical officers that had become surplus to requirement elsewhere in the Civil Service. In July 2006 the Department of Justice was allocated a further 300 surplus clerical officers.
Last December Mr McDowell won approval for the creation of 300 new additional clerical officer posts for the Dublin region. About 250 of these have already been recruited.
Finally, just before May's general election the recruitment of a further 300 clerical officers was approved for Garda administrative duties in the regions.
Before the civilianisation system was taken off life-support in early 2005, there were almost 1,300 civilian workers supporting a force of 12,500 sworn members.
However, in Britain the ratio of civilians to sworn officers is up to 40 per cent, or four times the Garda's levels.
Even when the 1,200 civilians pledged or hired since 2005 are in place, An Garda Síochána will still have a long way to go before taking its place on the world stage.