THE GARDA’S biggest ongoing operation against organised crime across the Republic has had its budget cut by Government by more than 50 per cent.
Funding for Operation Anvil for 2011 has been cut to €10 million, its lowest ever level and down from €21 million last year.
Targeted exclusively at organised crime, Operation Anvil has in recent years been used to carry out sustained periods of surveillance on the country’s biggest gangland criminals.
Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said he and his senior officers will now be required to run investigations that are more targeted in nature.
“We had €21 million last year; it is a big drop,” he said.
“But nonetheless it means that we have to be more focused in terms of what we are doing and we intend to continue to provide an effective intelligence-led policing service working within funding that is available to us.”
He said while Operation Anvil was not the only resource open to him to fight gang crime, those specialist Garda units – including the Garda National Drugs Unit and Criminal Assets Bureau – that also investigate gangs were not immune to cutbacks. Despite this, An Garda Síochána was still very well resourced and would meet the challenges it faced.
Mr Callinan was speaking while meeting with members of the media at Garda headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, yesterday.
It was his first interview since taking charge of the Garda on December 28th.
In December 2008, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern announced increased spending on Operation Anvil, to €21 million from €20 million the previous year.
He said at the time he was increasing the budget because: “We must continue to build on the great work of the Garda in tackling drug-traffickers and gangland criminals who have no regard for human life.”
Last night after news emerged that the budget had been cut by more than half, a spokesman for Mr Ahern said the Republic was now in a “different budgetary position”.
However, he said substantial money was still being made available to the Garda for frontline policing and anti-gang operations.
Operation Anvil was established in 2005 following an upsurge in gangland violence.
Its primary purpose was to make available additional funding for the overtime needed to put in place lengthy surveillance operations against key gangland targets.
The funding has also allowed gardaí to put in place intensive covert or overt operations in blackspot areas when gang feuding has erupted, usually in some of Dublin’s and Limerick’s suburbs.
Major Garda searches for drugs and guns and the establishment of Garda checkpoints aimed at frustrating the movements of gangland figures have also been funded from the money set aside for Operation Anvil.
Mr Callinan said as well as investigating gangland crime, it was also imperative the Garda maintained its focus on investigating dissident republicans.
He would meet PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott in the next fortnight to plan joint operations against groups such as the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann.
The Garda had enjoyed “very considerable” success against these groups and had “undoubtedly” prevented terrorist attacks.
However, attacks had increased by 70 per cent in the North last year and vigilance was now vital.
As well as dealing with the dissident threat and organised crime gangs, Mr Callinan said he was determined to tackle high volume crime such as muggings and burglaries.