Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea, Defence Forces chief of staff Lieut Gen Dermot Earley and the State's largest Defence Forces representative group have all said they do not believe soldiers will be deployed to help gardaí tackle gangland crime.
Mr O'Dea said he did not think such action was needed in Limerick, while Lieut Gen Earley said he believed gardaí would not seek the assistance of the Army, which he said had no policing training. PDforra general secretary Gerry Rooney said "the Army has other jobs to do".
The three men were speaking in Tralee, Co Kerry, at the annual conference of PDforra, the Defence Forces staff representative body.
Mr O'Dea said that if Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy believed troops were required to support gardaí in maintaining law and order, he could make a request. "The Army itself is not trained as a police force, their role is different," Mr O'Dea said.
When asked if troops were needed on the streets of Limerick, he said: "No. I don't think so."
The idea of drafting in the Army to help gardaí fight gun crime was mooted in the Dáil on Tuesday by Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan TD following three gangland-style murders in four days.
Mr Flanagan asked Mr Lenihan if he would "consider favourably discussing with the Garda Commissioner the concept of introducing the Defence Forces as back-up, if necessary? We are dealing with circumstances in which the Garda is under-resourced, that it is not equipped properly to deal with this issue."
Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan did not dismiss the idea, agreeing instead to consult Garda Commissioner Conroy.
A spokesman for Mr Lenihan yesterday moved to distance the Minister from his Dáil remarks. He said Mr Lenihan had offered to consult Mr Conroy on the idea only out of politeness.
Lieut Gen Earley said the primary responsibility for internal State security rested with An Garda Síochána. Systems were in place to allow the Garda Commissioner at any time to make a request for the Defence Forces to support the Garda force. However, Lieut Gen Earley did not believe a situation would arise where the on-street deployment of soldiers would be required to quell gangland crime.
"I'm saying as a personal opinion that I don't think it will come to members of the Defence Forces being on the street in a policing capacity. We are not trained as police people." Mr Rooney of PDforra dismissed the idea. "The Defence Forces have plenty of jobs to do elsewhere... We're not police men."
Extra recruits considered: page 10