More gardaí need to be hired to staff new taskforce, says GRA

The general secretary of the Garda Representative Association says he does not know where gardaí will come from for the new special crime taskforce announced on Tuesday.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ciaran O'Neill said, "We're running a skeleton service as it is."

The task force, which will fight organised crime, was announced by the Government in response to the recent spate of gangland killings.

Mr O’Neill said the association welcomed the announcement of the armed response unit and that there has been a good response within the force to it.

He said that members of the new unit will come from the front line and that they will then have to be replaced.

“The only way to replace is to recruit. A total of 1500 could retire in the next year, 800 must retire by next June, but only 800 have been recruited. The new training programme is good, but with some tweaking they could take in more recruits.

“Recruitment needs to be accelerated. We welcome these changes, but this cannot be seen as a sticking plaster solution to a larger problem.”

Mr O’Neill there was a need for more funding and more recruitment within the Garda.

Garda funding
The Government has also agreed to strengthen the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) in an effort to clamp down on drug dealers.

The new measures were announced by the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald, who said there had been unprecedented gangland violence in the last few weeks.

“However long it takes, whatever resources are necessary, we will face down the activities of these ruthless gangs,” she said.

However, Government sources indicated the new Garda task force was likely to be funded from existing budgets at the present time.

While officials in the Department of Public Expenditure expect further demands for resources from the Garda later in the year, there are no plans at present for any increased funding to be authorised.

A spokeswoman for Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohue confirmed that “funds will come from within existing resources for 2016. However, the matter is being reviewed by Government. Resources will be a matter of discussion between Minister Donohue and Minister Fitzgerald.”

Officials in his department recently warned Mr Donohue that no further funding should be allocated to the Garda without an extensive programme of reform being adopted by the force, preferably monitored by an external body such as the Policing Authority.

Overtime costs
Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald says that Garda overtime costs to combat gang crime in Dublin will run into "tens of millions" of euro but that she has instructed the force to "use whatever resources" they need to do so.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke show, she said she has complete faith in the Garda Commissioner Noirín O'Sullivan.

Ms Fitzgerald said that Garda recruitment will be accelerated and repeated that she is “very serious” about the situation and will give the Garda the resources to cover the necessary overtime.

She said that at present there was € 49.1 million in the estimates for overtime, and that if extra resources were required they would be provided.