THE Government and the Minister for Justice were yesterday told they would have to "carry the political can" for the robbery of what is believed to be £100,000 from a cash depot in Waterford on Saturday.
The assistant general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) blamed them for a deterioration in law and order as shown by the crime statistics, the number of crimes committed by those on bail and the early release system.
Mr P.J. Stone said cutbacks in Garda overtime played a big part in the Waterford robbery, and similar cutbacks could be found in many parts of the country. He knew this for a fact because he was being told by the gardai "on the ground."
He said: "A political can will have to be carried for this. The only people to carry that can is the present Government. They must be seriously questioned about their competence in this whole area. The Minister has now to prove herself in this regard. So far, she has failed miserably. I believe the people will judge her at the next election in that regard."
In one of the strongest attacks on a government or Minister by a Garda representative, Mr Stone said in an RTE radio interview: "I am terribly concerned: we must get back to basics. There has to be a radical overhaul of the criminal justice system. I am afraid that this Government and this Minister does not seem to have the will to tackle it."
Asked if he was serious about his allegation that the Minister had failed miserably, Mr Stone said one only had to look at the crime statistics and the way people were committing crime while on bail. That had never been addressed.
Mr Stone disagreed with a statement by the Garda Press Office which said any suggestion that curtailment of Garda overtime was a factor in the Waterford raid was totally erroneous and without foundation.
He said gardai on the ground were giving him information that "things were not being done as they should be done".
Mr Stone said he did not blame the press office for that because it was probably given that information to release.
Mr Stone said that since the last GRA annual conference it had fried to meet the Minister to advise her about difficulties on the ground, but she had refused to meet them. "She cannot judge intelligently what is going on out there because she has not been told. If the Minister is as concerned as much as she pretends to be about law and order, she should sit down with the 6,500 Garda members who have real difficulties relative to law and order."
They had seen what had happened over the past few weeks in relation to bail and early releases. There had been promises that these issues would be addressed during the last two years and nothing had happened.
Expressing concern about cutbacks in Garda overtime, Mr Stone said there had only been a single armed guard on duty on the day of the Waterford raid. There should have been at least two. Also, the Garda authorities had no direct input into whether the premises were suitable or not.
"My question now is: are we starting to give a mirage of a service instead of providing one? We addressed all of these points to the Minister for Justice at our annual conference in May 1995. She chose to ignore these points and pretended she was more concerned about an internal dispute in the Garda Representative Association.
"I think this Government has allowed law and order to fall into the shambles of despair. Her competence and ability must be seriously questioned now."
Questioned on the claim that the premises had not been "passed fit" for security purposes by the gardai, Mr Stone said: "Yes, luckily members of the gardai could not enter the building on that particular day or maybe they could have found themselves taken hostage or maybe even worse, being shot. The question of this type of premises being suitable for holding cash must be looked at."