McDowell to seek approval for major Garda recruitment drive

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, is to seek Cabinet approval for a major Garda recruitment drive which would bring the force to 14,000, an increase of around 2,000 officers on current levels.

Tough new penalties for those found guilty of firearms offences are also being planned by the Minister in a bid to clamp down on violent gun crime.

The plan to increase the force was an election promise which was shelved 18 months ago amid worsening economic conditions.

However, Mr McDowell is expected to tell Cabinet, probably next week, that Ireland's increasing population and the specialisation of the force has created a real need for the extra officers.

In the last decade more Garda resources have been diverted into specialist units and work on a range of new policing issues such as immigration and cybercrime.

Penalty points, has also put a strain on existing manpower.

The heavier penalties for firearms offences will be included in the new Garda Bill, which is expected to come before the Dáil before the summer. News of the new measures comes after the State's latest gun murder in Tallaght on Saturday morning.

Mr McDowell is expected to speak about his plans when he addresses the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) in Cork this evening. At the conference he will be urged by Garda sergeants and inspectors to publish the sex offenders register in order that members of the public are aware of the presence of convicted paedophiles and other sex offenders in their communities.

Delegates will be asked to vote on a motion, put forward by the Wexford and Wicklow branch, which calls on the publication of the register. The officers want the national executive of the AGSI to lobby Mr McDowell to give communities access to it.

Currently the sex offenders register is not readily available to the general public. In Britain, details of the register there have been leaked to the media in the past, giving rise to vigilante attacks against those on it. However, those in favour of publishing believe the public has a right to know if sex offenders are living in their area.

The AGSI is set to debate a number of other issues at the three-day conference. Members of three association branches in Dublin and Mayo have tabled a motion calling on Garda management to introduce ongoing training programmes for gardaí involved in policing public order incidents. The officers want the Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, to carry out a review of all public order training in the force.

The conference will also hear calls for hand-held video cameras to be available in Garda stations to allow officers to record prisoners who behave violently while in custody. Officers from Louth and Meath want the introduction of purpose-built police vehicles to replace existing saloon cars.

Another item on the agenda is a call from the association's Garda headquarters branch for specialised forensic training for gardaí investigating road accidents. Some members believe accident scenes should be treated as crime scenes, as is the case in Britain.