State spending €5.2m on Garda drivers' pool

Some €5.2 million is being spent by the State on salaries for Garda drivers to drive Ministers, former taoisigh, former presidents and judicial figures.

Some 77 gardaí are assigned to the driving pool, more than the number of members of the force working for the Garda National Drugs Unit, Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) or the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

There are 51 gardaí attached to the National Drugs Unit, 29 attached to CAB and 70 members working at the headquarters of the immigration bureau.

Of the 77 gardaí assigned to the driving pool, 58 are allocated on a full-time basis.

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said there were no plans to replace gardaí in the ministerial pool with civilian drivers.

News that 77 gardaí are assigned to driving duties comes at a time when the force is under severe manpower pressure.

Mr McDowell has already indicated gardaí on static duties outside State premises would be redeployed to frontline duties. A proposal to replace these with civilian security personnel is under consideration.

Labour's spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello TD, said the driving pool should be civilianised. He described as "colossal" the €5.2 million driver salary bill.

Fine Gael's spokesman on justice, Mr Jim O'Keeffe TD, said Mr McDowell had put forward plans to civilianise many Garda posts, but around 400 administrative jobs were still filled by gardaí who could be deployed on front-line activities.