The implementation of the Garda's new £55 million criminal intelligence and incident network - the State's largest computer project - before the millennium is still "touch and go", according to minutes of meetings on the project.
The computer system will provide a network of 1,400 computers linked to Garda headquarters, where criminal intelligence can be gathered centrally and disseminate to all but minor and part-time stations.
It is understood the Government intends to introduce the new system in what is termed a "big bang" exercise next June. It is hoped that it will be fully functional by next August.
More than £40 million has already been spent on the system and a further £15 million is committed to its further development. The network will be by far the biggest in the public sector and bigger than any computer information system used by banks or financial institutions.
Intensive negotiations on introducing the network began with the Garda staff associations two weeks ago. The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents 8,000 gardai, is seeking extra payments for its members to implement the system.
A major concern is that the system should be in place well before the end of next year, as the seven existing Garda computer systems are thought to be at risk of falling foul of the so-called "millennium bug" and crashing when their chips fail to register the date 2000. Some of the Garda computers date from the 1970s.
The new system will carry information of "incident response" - details of crimes, accidents and other incidents where gardai were involved; pictures of suspects; details of firearms; outcomes of court cases; "incident analysis"; missing persons and stolen cars.
On average, around 2,500 incidents involving the gardai occur every week and details of all incidents will be logged on the new system.
Garda management hopes the new system will improve its chances of detecting crime, help to recover stolen goods and provide "increased efficiency and intelligence".
It is as yet unclear whether the network will include an input by the Garda Special Detective Unit (SDU) - the "Special Branch" - which keeps records on people suspected of political subversion and terrorism.
Some SDU officers are said to want to have their own "standalone" computer system, which would restrict access to their files. This desire has arisen because of previous instances where it was found that the Provisional IRA had infiltrated agents into the force.
The sensitivity over the computer network is such that senior Department of Justice officials have emphasised the need for secrecy during negotiations with the Garda staff associations over its introduction. One senior official pointed out during talks: "It is in everybody's interest, in view of security of service to the State, that we do this rationally and quietly."
In discussions with the senior officer in charge of implementing the computer scheme, at a meeting last month, a senior Justice official is recorded in notes as saying: "The system has to be up and running before you have implementation. It will be `touch and go' as to whether the system will be operational by the end of next year. Do I understand this correctly?"
The senior Garda officer replied: "Yes."
The Justice official then went on to the need to "rush a final settlement" with the Garda staff associations over implementation and expressed concern that there could be a repeat of the two days of industrial action - the "blue flu" days - by gardai.
He said: "We need to get the final settlement accepted. We need to keep as low a profile as possible. We need to get the deal cleared. There are two ways of doing this. You have the easy way and the hard way. I prefer the easy way. The last public protestations reflected badly on everybody. We want no more of that."
The staff negotiators agree "that we need as little publicity as possible".
Pilot schemes will introduce the new system to Garda collators - whose job is to gather and disseminate information about criminals and court convictions - in the early spring. Separate pilot schemes in selected stations in Donegal, Cork and Dublin are due to start by February 1st and March 1st.