Over 980 on burglary charges in crime drive

GARDAÍ HAVE arrested 1,700 burglary suspects and charged more than 980 people in the first months of a major campaign against burglaries.

The charges have arisen in the interval between the beginning of April and Wednesday of this week – the first period for which figures are available for the Garda’s Operation Fiacla.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter told The Irish Times that while burglaries had been rising across the State in recent years, almost all other crime types were down.

He said the establishment of Operation Fiacla in the spring and the resultant high number of criminal charges demonstrated that burglaries were being prioritised by Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. “The [Garda] are making very substantial progress and they should be praised for that,” he said.

A total of 1,729 burglary-related arrests have been made under Operation Fiacla, and 982 people have been charged.

Mr Shatter said maintaining the number and spread of Garda stations put in place in 1922, particularly against the background of the State’s budget deficit and improvements in transport and communications infrastructure, was “unsustainable”.

He could not say whether the number of Garda station closures next year would be greater than the 39 that have already taken place this year.

He denied the closure programme was targeted at rural Ireland. “The bigger stations that have been closed are actually in Dublin; Dalkey, Whitehall and Harcourt Terrace.”

While the closures have been opposed by the Garda Representative Association and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, Mr Shatter said he would prefer to see those organisations acknowledge the 13 per cent drop in recorded crimes since 2008. “It’s disappointing that they don’t acknowledge that more . . . It’s a success that their members have been a part of and brought about.”