Garda warned of no supplement to overtime budget

THE GARDA overtime budget will run out by the end of August unless corrective measures are taken, senior gardaí have been warned.

John Leamy, the Garda Síochána's chief administrative officer, said the Garda had been given a "firm warning" from the Government that there would be no budget supplement this year to augment the money already allocated for overtime.

This year the Garda has been allocated a budget of €1.6 billion, including €107 million for overtime, an increase of €18 million on the original allocation last year. This year's budget was up 11 per cent on last year's, while the 2007 budget was, in turn, up 11 per cent on 2006.

Mr Leamy, one of the most senior civilians working in the force, told the annual delegate conference of the Association of Garda Superintendents that there would be no repeat of last year when the Garda went "cap in hand" to the Department of Justice for a supplementary budget allocation of €25 million.

Mr Leamy said the Garda lost 134,000 "sick tour" days last year, the equivalent of sick days, and 130,000 in 2006. It was now looking at implementing an occupational health service scheme to ensure sick officers got treatment and returned to work as quickly as possible.

Such a scheme contributed to a 50 per cent fall in "sick tour" days in the PSNI and a 30 per cent reduction in London's Metropolitan Police force, he said.

Mr Leamy said if Garda sick tours could be reduced by 30 per cent, it would be the equivalent of having an extra 180 gardaí on the streets and would amount to a saving of €10 million a year.

Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said it was "common knowledge" that there would be no supplementary budget this year.

He was confident, though, that the existing budget allocation was enough and front-line services would not be affected as the Garda would be increased in line with Government proposals to increase numbers to 15,000.

"As far as I'm concerned, we have the budget. We have got to manage it and that's what Mr Leamy was talking about," he said.

"The whole issue is deploying resources where there is greatest need. You just can't spread your resources all over the place. We need to go after where the problems are. If the problems are in a part of Limerick or in Finglas or in Tallaght, I want the type of operations like Anvil to be targeted at those problem areas."

Mr Murphy added: "There are places throughout the eastern division where there is a need to deploy resources and that's what I want to do. I also want to deploy resources at the time of greatest needs when the problems are happening, when and where the crime is being committed."

Mr Murphy said budgetary constraints would not affect Operation Anvil, the Garda's drive against organised crime, as €20 million had been ring-fenced for it.

Reservations were expressed by delegates that some queries to the the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission were being sent back for investigation, against the whole principle of the police not investigating the police.

The Association of Garda Superintendents believes that the process, even down to minor complaints, should be totally independent. Mr Murphy said he had been advised by the commission that changes were being proposed which would allow the ombudsman to hand back minor complaints to the Garda.

"That's a matter for the Minister for Justice. The independence aspect of the mechanism is very important for An Garda Síochána. No matter how open our investigations were, there was always a perception that the police investigating the police was never a pure system, but I can see a reason why very minor complaints will be handed back."