Annual Report 2023
The Private Security Authority are delighted to present their Annual Report for 2023.
Annual Report 2022
The Private Security Authority are delighted to present their Annual Report for 2022.
Annual Report 2021
The Private Security Authority are delighted to present their Annual Report for 2021.
Annual Report 2020
We are delighted to report on the activities of the Private Security authority for 2020. Like so many sectors across society, the security industry faced significant challenges last year. As their regulator, we made every effort to support our licence holders during the year and advocated on behalf of the security industry with the Minister and her Department. We were disappointed that our proposals to reduce the licence fee or extend the licence term were not accepted. We will continue to look for ways to assist our licence holders in 2021.
Our commitment to developing a professional and well regulated security industry remains strong. With almost 42,000 contractor and employee licences in circulation at the end of 2020, the industry plays an important role in the safety and protection of our society. Good regulation builds public confidence in the industry and helps create new opportunities for those operating in the sector. We will continue to work in partnership with employers and employees to promote the benefits of regulation to society.
Like most bodies, last year presented unique challenges for us. We postponed the licensing of individuals in the event Security sector and work on progressing licensing in other areas was delayed by the lockdown. While our ability to engage with licensees and undertake compliance activity was severely hampered by the pandemic.
The delay in advancing key projects during 2020 will now make it difficult to complete key elements of the Strategic Plan. While we remain confident that we can make significant progress during 2021, we acknowledge that elements of our mandate will remain unfinished when the Strategic Plan comes to an end in November 2021.
We would like to acknowledge the commitment and support of all our stakeholders who engaged with us during the year. We would particularly like to thank the Minister for Justice and her Department, the Garda Síochána and other Government bodies whose support is critical to our ongoing success.
Finally, we would like to thank the Board for their leadership, our staff for their continued hard work and commitment in exceedingly difficult circumstances and all those who engaged with us to help achieve our objectives during the year.
Annual Report 2019
We are pleased to present the 2019 Annual Report of the Private Security Authority which charts our progress over the year. We made considerable progress in some key areas during the year. Two new standards were published, PSA 31:2019 for new entrant contractors into the Door Supervisor, Event Security and Security Guarding sectors and PSA 74:2019, a new quality management standard replacing Sr40 in the Electronic Security sectors. We set the critical date for the licensing of employees in the Event Security sector and undertook a public consultation on the requirements for licensing contractors in the Powered Gates sector.
We continued to focus resources in the area of compliance, recruiting an additional inspector in April and another scheduled to join us in January 2020. Our compliance work led to the revocation of 16 contractor licences and 10 employee licences in 2019. We processed 14,800 licence applications, up 80% on 2018, as we returned to normal volumes following the impact of the three year licence cycle introduced for employees in 2016.
Our objectives for 2019 had been set out in our Strategic Plan 2019-2021. We highlighted in last year’s report the challenge we faced in completing our mandate due to shortfalls in both funding and personnel. The departure of two of our senior management team during the year added to this challenge and made it difficult to achieve our objectives. as a result we have had to reschedule the timelines on some projects.
Annual Report 2018
We are delighted to report on the activities of the Private Security Authority for 2018. This was the first full year of our current board which was appointed in December 2017. We marked the year by the publication of our fourth Strategic Plan. The Plan, which covers the years 2019-2021, focuses on completing our licensing mandate, enhancing the levels of professionalism in our industry, protecting consumers and the public and the building on our relationships with our licence holders.
Annual Report 2014
I am pleased to present the 2014 annual report of the Private Security Authority. This proved to be an eventful year with the departure of our CEO, the launch of the new Strategic Plan and the continuation of the roll out of our mandate. I would like to thank the Board members, the Executive and the Staff for their efforts and support during a busy year.
In July 2014 Ms Geraldine Larkin resigned as CEO of the Authority to take up a new challenge as CEO of Bord na gCon. The transformation of the industry is a testament to her vision, leadership and hard work. I would like to offer my personal thanks for all her support and wish her the very best in her future endeavours.
In December 2014 the Minister of Justice and Equality, Ms Frances Fitzgerald T.D. appointed Mr Paul Scallan as the new CEO following the recommendation of the Public Appointments Service. Paul has been with the Authority for 8 years, has extensive experience of the area and has the respect of all stakeholders. On behalf of the Board I would like to wish Paul every success in his new position and assure him of our full support at all times. At this point I would like to thank all of the staff for ensuring that the work of the Authority continued while the CEO appointment process took place. In particular I would like to thank Mr John Ryan who acted as interim CEO during the appointment process, his work was much appreciated by all.
Annual Report 2013
I am pleased to present the first annual report of the third board of the Authority which took office in July 2013. This has been a busy period as the new Board sought to build on the work of the previous Board whose term of office finished in 2012 and I would like to thank the Board and the Executive for their efforts during this time.
Since taking office the Board has held four formal board meetings and has formed an Audit and a Strategy Steering committee: both committees have held a number of meetings. In addition Board representatives have held several very informative meetings with representatives of the Cash in Transit sector. It is my intention to continue this programme of meeting with industry representatives during 2014.
As part of its work programme the Board has progressed a number of key Authority projects, these include the appointment of a panel of external inspectors, the introduction of licensing for the staff providing cash in transit security services and the conclusion of regulations which will clear the way for licensing of businesses providing event security.
In addition the Board approved a reduction in the cost of licence fees charged to start-up and small businesses providing security services. This reduction has delivered savings of 45% to smaller contractors while start-up businesses will benefit from a 55% reduction.
Annual Report 2012
It has been my privilege to serve as Chairman of The Private Security Authority over the four year term of the outgoing Board (2008-12). During that time, we have enjoyed great commitment and support from the security industry to drive the regulatory agenda forward, despite the downturn in the economy, and the hardships and challenges faced by providers, clients and public servants as a result. It is a great testament to all that significant progress has been made in advancing that agenda.
The mission of the Authority is to regulate the activities of all those involved in the private security industry to ensure that the interests of consumers are fully protected, through the promotion, monitoring, and enforcement of licensing requirements, and a level playing field is provided for legitimate operators. Since inception, the Board and Executive of the PSA have striven to develop policy underpinned by practical, cost-effective licensing solutions, in an industry that is far from homogenous. Yet this industry is becoming ever more professional and vital, as public crime prevention resources come under unrelenting pressure. The ambitions set by legislators for Ireland’s security industry are great; unfortunately, the challenges in meeting them look ominous, as resources are cut whilst
responsibilities continue to expand. At some point, this mis-match of resources with ambitions is likely to result in inevitable conflict and potential disaffection, unless essential resources can be expanded to meet demand.
Annual Report 2011
I am pleased to introduce the 2011 Report of the Private Security Authority. 2011 marked the first year of our new strategy for the period 2011 to 2013 and of our new Mission Statement. That Mission Statement commits the Authority to regulate the activities of those involved in the private security industry to ensure that the interests of consumers are fully protected through, promotion, monitoring, and enforcement of licensing requirements. Our objective for the year was to build on our existing regulatory success from the previous strategy by maintaining standards in existing licensed sectors and extending licensing to remaining sectors not yet licensed.
Critical to developing our core objective was the introduction of licensing of staff working in Cash in Transit companies and CCTV installation. The enactment of amending legislation unblocked a number of obstacles for the PSA. I want to acknowledge the role of the Minister for Justice and Equality in addressing these issues so early in his term of office. The amendments will simplify certain aspects of our processing and enable us to issue licences more efficiently. The amendments will also facilitate the PSA contracting additional resources to support and complement our existing enforcement resources.
Unfortunately a delay in finalising secondary legislation setting out the criteria for licensing prevented the Private Security Authority from realising its target for licensing new sectors in 2011. While there are pressures throughout the entire public service these regulations are critical to our future work. I am confident that the regulations will be enacted in early 2012 enabling the PSA to launch licensing of these sectors during the year.
Annual Report 2010
I am pleased to introduce the 2010 Report of the Private Security Authority. 2010 was another successful year for the PSA across all its operational areas.
Despite economic difficulties throughout the industry, the PSA received the highest number of individual applications since 2007 when licensing was initially launched. Our processing has been significantly re-designed since then and the PSA can now issue licences faster and with significantly fewer resources than were originally assigned to the PSA.
With the launch of identity cards last year and our continued on the ground inspections there has been a noticeable increase in compliance rates by those working in the industry. Compliance with individual licensing now stands at 95% for security guarding and at 85% for door security. This is in comparison to figures of 92% and 82% respectively at the end of 2009. 2010 also saw the completion of a Requirements Document for CCTV Installation which paves the way for the licensing of CCTV installers.