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THE NEW NATIONAL DNA database which is expected to become operational this year, according to the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.
The database will help to solve crimes and trace missing persons, with criminals who receive a sentence of 5 years or more having their DNA logged.
Criminals
Perpetrators of most crimes involving a sexual offence will also have their details placed on the database, regardless of the sentence.
Answering questions about Garda equipment and resources, the minister said that the
the Garda authorities currently have 6,500 desktop computers operating in 430 networked locations across the Garda Síochána estate, each with access to a variety of Garda systems such as PULSE, the Fixed Charge Processing System, the Garda National Immigration Bureau Information System and the Garda Portal in addition to email and Internet facilities.
However, the minister said the precise details of the number of computers in operation broken down by each of the 430 locations is not readily available and would require a disproportionate amount of Garda time and resources to compile.
IT issues
Minister Fitzgerald said that the Garda Inspectorate report on Crime Investigation highlighted IT issues within the force.
I have entered into discussions with my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in this regard and there have also been preliminary discussions between my Department, the Garda Inspectorate and the Garda Síochána in order to identify what can be implemented in the short, medium and long term.
She said a separate internal in-depth examination of all the recommendations in the Garda Inspectorate report has also been commenced by the Garda Commissioner and this will also encompass those relating to technology.
She said that she had been informed that a project to migrate all Garda desktop PCs to a new industry standard operating system is 95% complete and will be fully completed in January 2015.
An additional upgrade that will facilitate additional functionality in the area of data classification is also being implemented as part of this upgrade.
More efficient and cost effective printing services and data storage facilities and the virtualisation of server environments have also been achieved in recent months and the forensic capacity of An Garda Síochána will soon be enhanced by the new national DNA database which is expected to become operational in the new year.
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I’d be seriously considering a move to Portugal if this was on the cards.
@Gary Garden: now your talkin or maybe the Bahamas I’ll not get carried away with myself
@kevin mc cormack: Good luck with the payroll tax implications… Nightmare.
@kevin mc cormack: there’s a 5 hour time difference. You’d have to logon at 4am if you have a 9-5 job
@Michelle Corry #FBPE: you just had to go and shatter his dream…. for shame Michelle, for shame….;)
@Liam Armstrong: good
@Michelle Corry #FBPE: And people think employers will continue big city salaries for people who live elsewhere? Over time those working from home permanently will be disadvantaged over those giving facetime in the office.
For those lucky enough to even have the option.
@Alan McDonald: Employers will love it if it means they don’t have to pay “big city” rental costs for office space, someone who can work from home is more cost effective for them.
@Rochelle: fair point – employers are already looking at cutting back on “city premium” if staff can cut costs on rent remotely and office costs are gone.
@Ciara: if he’s only abroad for a few months he’s tax resident and domiciled here.
@kevin mc cormack: You might get carried away with a hurricane or 3.
@Gary Garden: wouldn’t be possible due to tax reasons long term. unless you become an employee of the Portugal portion of the company. but would be nice though!
@SkylineSi: actually this isn’t true. This is precisely what PAYE Exclusion Order is for — to stay on payroll in Ireland but declare yourself tax resident elsewhere.
You’d have to start declaring your taxes separately in Portugal though. And places where you need permission to take up residency (outside the EU and UK) would be out of the question since you’d have no one to sponsor you.
@Gary Garden: For tax reasons, you might not be able to. I have been working from home since February 2020, and I can only spend 3 months in France. Basically, I have to be an Irish resident.
I came to Dublin 40 years ago for work and I reside in drumcondra on my own now since my missus passed away it’s a community I love here and the local people know me and accepted me all thoses years ago and no way would I want to leave it even in my old age.
@liam ward60: Drumcondra is a lovely community Liam, glad you are happy there :)
@liam ward60: If you haven’t already, go to Shouk when it’s reopened. It’s the best restaurant
@liam ward60: good man stay where u are happy
@D: so good!
I already live outside the commuter belt, and work in North Dublin(50km round trip). I think more people would choose to live further from work(working remotely) and pay less for Mortgage/Rent. However, the further into the country you go, the Internet infrastructure tends to be slower, less reliable, and supplied by less providers at a reasonable cost.
@neuromancer: Eir’s fibre to the home is excellent where available and hands-down beats the speeds I’ve seen available in small towns and villages.
@Daniel Dunne: This FTH seems to be offered in rural hinterlands around small towns and villages, but not in them!
@Daniel Dunne: only one problem with that. Eir.
@Daniel Dunne: We’ve had other issues with Eir but internet speed is great TBF.
@Daniel Dunne: I’ve just changed from Sky to eir fiber and it’s shocking. Internet keeps freezing. Now I don’t live in Dublin but I never had a problem with Sky. Can’t wait for my contract to be up to change back.
@neuromancer: my wife has been working from home since April and I am a teacher so currently at home doing online classes. We actually did make the move from town to country before Christmas and the fact that my wife will be mostly working from home for the foreseeable future definitely influenced our decision, no more noisy neighbours and loud music as a distraction. Though the broadband is definitely an issue, can’t get fibre and already sent back router given by 1 provider as speed was awful. Now on another 14 day trial with different company which is ok but not great. The joys of country living
@Daniel Dunne: we got fibre in our village two years ago, I went full time remote within a couple of months once I was sure it had the reliability. Best move ever.
@Jess Kelly: we just moved to country before Christmas, can’t get fibre, Eir offered ADSL and installed yesterday, cancelled it and sent back with an hour, my wife unable to log into her work using it. Very very slow speed
@Jess Kelly: why would anyone leave sky for EIR,
@Jess Kelly: if they are not supplying what is in the contract you have the right to break the contract
@neuromancer: and then prices would drop in Dublin for those of us who need the rhythm of the city!
@SC: prices won’t drop in Dublin. Rhythm of the city? hmm, close to bars and restaurants, and don’t have children by any chance?
@Ger Power: I’m outside Dublin too. I have fiber but it’s shocking. As I said I’d no problem when Sky was my provider. I changed because they became far too expensive but it’s definitely a case of you get what you pay for. I’ve 10 months to go before I can change back.
@dan o keeffe: I’ve asked myself that same question. They became too expensive. I had phone, internet & tv basic package costing me €114 a month. I’ve now same package with eir for €60. Some difference there. But as I said in another comment you get what you pay for. Can’t wait for eir contract to be up.
@colm connolly: I understand that. Have you ever tried eir customer service?
@Daniel Dunne: you can’t even get that in cork city. I can’t imagine it ever being in Gold or Kill
@neuromancer: Same, would also cite transport infrastructure.
@neuromancer: not true – because of the rural broadband scheme, rural areas have better broadband- I get 1gb fibre in rural Tipperary
@neuromancer: We left the city for more space for our children. I’m from the city centre and always missed it. I love the feeling of walking around town. I suppose it’s just home for me. Other people might love the sight of their cows in a field!
@Jess Kelly: Weird, SKY use EIRs network. Maybe your router is the problem. The EIR router is pants.
Absolutely. Covid aside, the traffic congestion has reached unworkable levels. Why would anyone want to waste their lives sitting behind the steering wheel moving a metre at a time for an hour and a half every morning /evening if there was a viable alternative?
@Liz O’Neill: I love how people are able to complain about these things we used to be told to suck up. Commuting is bad for your body and soul! We should also look to build new housing on rail lines where mass transit is possible, rather than in random Greenfield sites only accessible by road.
I live near Drogheda but with the train I’m in faster than people who live a lot closer and drive.
@Liz O’Neill: I’ve been working from home for the past few years and definitely don’t miss traffic. Although I do miss the social element of the workplace. It can be quite isolating at times and you can feel a bit housebound, particularly at this time during Covid. Hopefully if things get back to normal it will be easier, people definitely need some social outlets and face to face interaction now and then.
@SC: There aint nearly enough rail lines! We prefer pulling them up over putting them down!
@thesaltyurchin: the stretch between Dublin and Maynooth could be developed and more trains could be put on. Lots of green fields on that line. Hopefully high density development near stations. The Hueston to Athlone line same.
Been working from home almost exclusively for the past few years and have been seriously thinking about moving out of Dublin when the pandemic is over. I still love the city but the older I get the more I enjoy peace and quiet
I don’t get this.Why do we need legislation to request something.? The answer wil! be the same either way.
@Ben BFI: I’d guess they want to make sure that employers can only refuse for good reason and not just coz they want to be awkward or couldn’t be bothered. Similar to the rules around parental leave.
I wish I had broadband where I live. It’d change my life from what I’ve seen online….oh wait. I’m online! Long live dialled up telecommunications.
Yes I would move out of Dublin.
Why am I changing around my whole life so employers don’t have to keep the lights on? Lol
I already moved out of the city to Kerry 14 years ago. Commuting is not an issue. I’m 25 km from work but the drive is a joy – very little traffic and listen to music on Spotify or the radio in my own little space. Husband can walk to work.
Valencia in Spain, no doubt.
@Jose Maria: brilliant city. Las Fallas festival every March is the best festival anywhere.
There’s much more to life in Dublin than work. It’s where all my family and friends are. I love walking to grab a nice coffee, good parks, short bus/taxi journey on a night out, shopping can be delivered to the door! I’d feel much more isolated if working from home in the countryside.
@Aisling: There are other cities where all this is available outside Dublin, it’s not just countryside…
@Bountyop: the choice in Dublin is way above elsewhere in the country. I have a choice of shopping centres, cinemas, pubs, restaurants, theatre, venues etc… there are over 30 different food delivery options to my door. One thing I love is being close to the airport so it is really easy to travel. Bit of a shame I can’t go anywhere at the moment. Each to their own but lots of people love Dublin and want to stay, those who hate it are more than welcome to leave. Given the housing situation it could be very good but having space for a home office is important too. So bigger houses, one guy I work with has himself, wife and 2 daughters working from home. He hates it as they don’t have proper spaces to work
I have not yet read details of the proposed legislation, but I very much hope that it includes an obligation on employers to provide for safe and appropriate work-stations in employees’ homes. My WFH experience last year meant I had to work from an armchair and a coffee table, with predicatable consequences for my back.
@Dick Barrett: snap! I’ve bought a new table and chairs as was working at the kitchen island thing with barstool and my back got into a bad way. Have since been doing stretches and yoga (very zen I know but really good for the whole body) mostly everyday…even at the office desk we’d be the same but they’d look at you funny if they saw you getting into downward dog at 11am coffee break lol
@Dick Barrett: That’s an interesting one. If employers have provided me with a proper chair and desk at the office, are they also obliged to do that for me at home? Chair can easily be used at either location but desk is trickier. Also who covers additional heating, electricity etc. My feeling is that working from home is my choice, and I should cover office setup, additional costs etc, in exchange for quality of life it brings me. But not sure how this aspect would play out
@Dick Barrett: you want them to send someone to spoon feed you too? If WFH is a choice by employee, then surely that employee has a personal responsibility to source a chair and a desk. Everyone sees employees as bottomless money pits. Many SMEs are small time. This kind of bleating, with looking for handouts mean they’ll ultimately be less profitable and employ less people.
@Eoin Scanlon: Why haggle when you can put an adjustable chair in a taxi to accommodate the member of staff with daily back pain? That would be something that meets them halfway. I was wondering why an employee couldn’t talk it over with the manager and at least sort that much out. The rant explains it.
@Eoin Scanlon: Most of the companies providing desk, laptop, chair and phone. We have for staff ikea tables, chairs on your choice (depends on your back condition), I have SecretLabOmega, desk phone Yeahlink T53W (wifi phone if you want to work from bedroom not living room). Productivity should be the same like you are in the office. Its a hard time, staff needs more support than ever.
Absolutely! Theres a guy i work with, lives in Limerick, paying less in his mortgage than most in rent here in Dublin…i think this has shown businesses that people can remote work, and do it well
I would be working from a shack in co Clare if I could, but theres one big issue; The broadband signal is nonexistant. Anytime I do video calls there the picture quality is terrible and it just resorts to a standard phone call. Any online work would be slow and inefficient. Hell I know someone doing software work from Hanoi that has way better internet signal to Dublin than some of rural Ireland has. That broadband plan needs work.
@Paul Cunningham: same as but I’m in the office to be able to work because eir fibre stopped a few hundred yards from the house. hooked up a mobile broadband router for the oh to work but cant really take 2 people on it. landline broadband cant support a multi user teams call . just cuts out.
There’ll be a mass exodus from Dublin and its commuter belt if work from home culture really takes hold.
I’m applying for a fully remote job this month and if I get it I’m off to Spain for the summer.
People would prefer to live closer to where they work, but they should be trying to work closer to where they live. A home is for life, a job could finish anytime.
Good WiFi in my Attic..
who wants to live in this Shi..t hole!?
100%, would love a rural location
I am looking forward to being back in the office. Would be nice to be able to do 2 months a year somewhere warm.
Only suit people that have young families or people that very high up in their job
@Aido: weird comment. Lots of office jobs can easily done from home. Not sure what having kids has to do with it. I have a nice desk set-up at home and much more comfortable than the G rated office that is either too hot or cold. Constantly broken toilets is another issue along with the general filth of the building. It is a government building too. So looks like they will have to offer us working from home too even though am not a civil servant.
Oval office
who wants to live in this Shi..t hole!?
I don’t understand this legislation. The right to request to work remotely… surely everyone already has this right… and businesses have the right to say “no”. Anyone know how this legislation will actually charge that?
@Conor Furlong:
Probably will eliminate possibility of employers in qualifying sectors saying no for frivolous reasons.
And, it should soften the coughs of all little Caesar’s in Management in those businesses all over the country!
@Conor Furlong: Because of micro-management some supervisor dont want to let staff works from home. No any other reason – ” i just dont trust them and want to see what they doing”. cited
I moved out of Dublin in March following Covid and moved to a very remote part of the West of Ireland. Didnt realise how difficult it would be to get Internet..waiting on Vodafone to connect line to the property since the 10th of March 2020 having had 10 cancelled appointments and having no option to raise a complaint unless a Manager in Vodafone deems it a complaint… Excuse the side rant but anyway I just hotspotted off my phone and it works unbelievably well my partner does the same can’t complain. Moral of story is government need to get there finger out and slap some serious regulations and fines on Internet and phone operaters in Ireland similar to how the UK does with there utilities companies.
who wants to live in this Shi..t hole!?
Needed to have implemented proper ‘global’ city infrastructures 30 years ago to be feeling the benefits now, hopefully a silver linning will be a willingness of the Irish people to provide services for ourselves to enjoy our country in a manner that suits those that love the city and those that love the countryside. Personally I need both but the space between is currently very difficult.
@thesaltyurchin: For me, the ideal would be to live on the outskirts of a city with decent public transport, and not have to run a car.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Same. Like London, but without 10 million people in the area, be amazing! There was a train-line 50/60 years ago with a station at the end of the road!!
A nice little house in the south of France, please.
I already work from home in West Cork and it is beautiful but once the kids are in College, I’m going to start wintering in Spain.
Id live in turkey where the weather is stunning, food is lovely, people are friendly and theres cats everywhere.
Always planned to retire to France, would be great to do it sooner!
Though I wouldn’t advise any one else have the same idea, really, terrible place!
Always planned to retire to France, would be great to do it sooner!
Though I wouldn’t advise any one else have the same idea, really, terrible place!
I would never leave Ireland. I love it here and I’m very proud to be Irish
Always planned to retire to France, would be great to do it sooner!
Though I wouldn’t advise any one else have the same idea, really, terrible place!
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