THE main features of the anti crime packages rushed into law by the Government during the summer will add more than £45 million to Justice and related spending in 1996.
The largest element in the Estimate is a £49 million provision for new prison building, compared to £18.3 million in 1995.
The prison building programme agreed by the Government consists of four main building projects totalling 640 spaces, which will move the total available to close to 3,000 spaces. Work on the main prison at Castlerea in Co Roscommon (a section is already complete) will cost £11.6 million, while £12 million is to be spent on a new remand prison at Wheat field in Dublin, £7 million on a women's prison at Mountjoy in the city, and £2.7 million on a wing at Limerick prison.
The extra building is a critical part of the Government's anti crime programme, particularly as planned new bail laws are expected to increase by several hundred a year the numbers held in custody before trial.
Another significant feature is the £3.8 million allocated to the Criminal Assets Bureau, set up after the murder of the journalist, Veronica Guerin, in June. The bureau, made up of Revenue and Garda officers as well as Social Welfare officials, is the State's first concerted effort to target the assets of major drug criminals.
In addition, the Secret Service budget - used for paying informants and related expenses - has been increased from £520,000 to £720,000. A sum of just over £1 million is provided for the refugee board, set up by the Refugee Act this year.
The Minister has almost doubled the allocation to Victim Support to £280,000 in 1997. The organisation helps victims off crime and lobbies for their rights to be recognised in the criminal justice system.
The Garda budget has been increased by 5 per cent and the main new feature is the £2.5 million allocated for the establishment of a Garda air wing. The money is to be used to buy one: fixed wing aircraft and a helicopter.
A 6 per cent increase in Garda salaries, wages and allowances is partly accounted for by the accelerated recruitment programme, which is to add an extra 400 gardai to the force, and by a plan to increase the number of civilians working in the force.
Incidental expenses are rising by 21 per cent to £2.5 million - a spokeswoman for the Department said this was mainly due to increased spending on projects such as youth diversion schemes and crime prevention programmes.
Extending closed circuit television systems, such as the one operating in Temple Bar, Dublin, is one reason for an increase in the communications budget from £5.6 million to £6.5 million.
The State laboratory is to get extra funding for technical equipment, increasing from £382,000 in 1996 to £739,000 in 1997.
The Defence Estimates show a 21 per cent increase to £85 million in the amount for Army pensions - the Department received more than 1,100 applications earlier this year when it set up a voluntary early retirement scheme.
The Estimates show £9.1 million allocated for ships and Naval stores, compared with £3.2 million in 1996. Last month the Minister for Defence, Mr Barrett, said the Government would expand the fleet at a cost of £30 million, half of which should be provided from EU funding.