THERE are signs of increasing pressure of work at senior levels in the Department of Justice which do not appear to be matched across the Civil Service.
The workload of the top Justice officials was revealed in the course of the speech by the Minister, Mrs Owen, to the Dail yesterday on the prisoner release controversy.
The Secretary of the Department, Mr Tim Dalton, had accompanied the Minister to Belfast for political talks at Stormont on Thursday morning, necessitating an early start.
He received the call informing him of the difficulties over the prisoners while he was travelling into Dublin at 6.50 p.m. He then attended a meeting in the Taoiseach's Department about Anglo Irish affairs.
He stayed in contact with other senior gardai and justice officials until all the prisoners had gone through the process of being released at Portlaoise and then rearrested. His day ended some time after 2 a.m.
Although this was an extraordinary day, it is evident that the Department is under strain.
Despite the massive increase in its workload, the Department of Justice has not expanded its staff in any significant way. It has only five assistant secretaries compared with nine in the Department of Agriculture and 15 in Foreign Affairs.
Two of its five assistant secretaries are permanently devoted to duties outside Dublin, one at the Anglo Irish Secretariat and the other between Dublin and Brussels.
The oversight on the documentation concerning the transfer of Judge Lynch from the Special Criminal Court happened as the Department was in the process of appointing an additional 15 judges as part of a major expansion of court services.
The Department's courts section processed the administrative work involved in the appointment of the new judges including three to the Supreme Court two to the High Court, seven to the Circuit Court and three to District Courts. The appointments, under the Courts and Courts Officers Act, were the largest single' increase in the size of thee judiciary. There were also extensive changes in the courts' scheduling to allow for extra sittings of the Central Criminal Court for an additional three weeks each year.
It appears the paperwork on the reappointment of Judge Lynch was overlooked amid the other appointments and changes in the court system.
Aside from the administration of the courts, the Department is also contending with a major review of the Garda Siochana; overseeing the anti crime packages aimed at major criminal gangs; the implementation of a series of crime prevention measures; the largest expansion of the prison system in its history; law reform on issues including bail, which entails the referendum on the amendment to the Constitution; the right to silence; criminal assets legislation; and a review of criminal justice legislation and procedure.
The Minister obtained Cabinet approval earlier this year for additional staff in the Department, but these are understood to have been appointed to administration in the crime area.
The Department also produces more new legislation annually than any other.
The increase in the Department's workload has flowed directly from Government reaction to media and public pressure over drugs and crime.
Department sources said yesterday that, given the pressure, it was inevitable that something would go wrong.