Gardaí faced with crisis on two fronts

The most important thing about any response to a crisis is that it is proportionate. There are some issues that always provoke an emotional, rather than a rational, response.

There are few better examples than crime. It is a phenomenon that could prompt a hair-trigger response.

Remember the ‘rural crime’ wave of the past 12 months? Everybody bought into it. Farming organisations. The media. Politicians.

Sure enough, there had been some terrible crimes, not least the cruel attack on the Corcoran family in Tipperary. And while there was some evidence to show there were small clusters of increased criminal activity in the country, the statistics showed that for the vast majority of rural Ireland, life continued in the same taciturn way it has for generations.

Nonetheless, the evidence did not prevent an atmosphere of fear from building up.

Such crises demand a political response that is high-profile and highly-visible and that gives the impression of being decisive.

In that case, quick-response units of armed gardaí using high-powered cars were deployed. If it did not make a difference, it at least gave the impression that something was being done about it.

The crisis affecting the Garda at present is slightly different in character. It is happening on two fronts. The first is the savage feud between two crime families: the Kinahans and the Hutches.

The second is the a more political one, the ongoing aftershocks for Garda top brass of the Maurice McCabe affair.

The Irish Times leads today with Fiach Kelly's story about Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald going to Cabinet seeking extra resources for the Garda to fight organised crime.

As Kelly reports, it will allow a mini Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) to be set up as well as resourcing sections of the force focused on organised crime and gangland crime. It remains to be seen if this will be enough to appease fears.

As many commentators have pointed out, the policing response in places such as Dublin’s north inner city is only one of a complex set of solutions.

But for now, the highly-visible ‘saturation’ policing response may provide a temporary fix.

The McCabe affair is a horse of a different colour.

The latest twist is the account given by former PAC chairman John McGuinness of a private meeting he had in a carpark with former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan in January 2014.

Mystery surrounds why McGuinness decided to wait two-and-a-half years before disclosing the meeting in which Callinan allegedly said Garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe was not to be trusted.

I’m not sure what McGuinness intended to achieve by releasing the information. It is certainly worrying.

An unintended effect for him was the widespread criticism he has received for agreeing to the meeting in the first place, and then not disclosing it - even to the O’Higgins Commission.