The Garda radio communications system is on the verge of collapse, is not secure and cannot even be accessed in some parts of the country, a Garda conference will be told today.
Delegates at the three-day annual conference of the Garda Representative Association will hear members of the force are concerned conversations conducted over the existing system are being accessed by criminal and subversive gangs. Most members have abandoned the system in favour of their mobile phones, which they pay for themselves.
Gardaí from Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny and members of the GRA's executive have tabled a motion calling on Garda management to immediately install a secure communications system which can be accessed in all areas of the State. The call comes more than five years after the Government committed itself to installing such a system.
A pilot version of the long mooted Trunked Terrestrial Radio (TETRA) has been in operation in O'Connell Street, Dublin, and at the Garda traffic department since 1999.
However, despite the success of both projects, no steps have been taken to implement it throughout the State. Trials on an identical system in the UK began in 1999, with the system there having been fully rolled out or ordered for all regions.
The GRA estimates the new system would cost around €100 million to install. It would provide an encrypted system, secure from interception. Currently, freely available radio scanners can intercept the communications system. That means criminals can tune in and keep informed of Garda movements in their locality. The TETRA system would provide a state of the art network, allowing for the transmission of data and voice messages. It would enable all patrol cars to access and enter data on the force's main computer base.