Plea over civilian support staff for gardaí
There is an appalling scarcity of civilian support staff for the Gardaí, a conference heard today.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) is calling for more civilians to be employed so that more gardaí can go on the beat.
Its general secretary Joe Dirwan said the proportion of civilians employed in the force was only 10% compared to 25% to 40% in other countries.
“An allied theme to the general lack of resource is the appalling scarcity of civilian support staff. The Garda Commissioner has sought 1,000 additional civilian support staff from the Justice Minister. Now it would suit the minister far better to provide those 1,000 than his cosmetic proposal for a reserve,” he said.
Mr Dirwan told the AGSI conference in Killarney that these civilians would be able to do real work and would free up over 400 full time gardaí for duty on the streets.
There are currently 1,800 civilians working with the force, including a group at the Garda information service centre in Castlebar who directly input information into the PULSE system on behalf of gardaí.
Mr Dirwan said Mr McDowell had highlighted this pilot project, which is due to go nationwide in the summer
“But I am told that the numbers actually working there are currently 71 with a further increase planned for July up to 160 – a far cry from the 300 he has mentioned,” he said.
Mr Dirwan said he agreed with Mr McDowell that there was a growing gap between gardaí and the community. But he said the blame rested with the Government who had not provided the force with sufficient resources.
“Figures prepared by the British Home Office have shown that Ireland has had fewer police officers per 100,000 of population than most other developed nations for many years. The result, of course, has been that there are fewer members available to do community policing as the Garda Síochána has concentrated on its fire brigade role,” he said.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell has said the Government cannot be accused of under-resourcing the force because the Garda budget is now €1.3bn compared to around €600m in 1997.
Mr Dirwan said the AGSI had provided two submissions to the Morris Tribunal, which was continuing to expose ’severe shortcomings’ in the Donegal garda division.
“I know our colleagues in Donegal are going through a rough time – but at the end of the day, when it is all analysed – you could count on one hand the number of members who behaved improperly,” he said.
Mr Dirwan said the association’s thoughts were with the ’decent and hardworking’ gardaí who were giving their best on behalf of the force.
He added that the Association would be awaiting the outcome of the Barr Tribunal, which is investigating the shooting dead of John Carty by members of the Emergency Response Unit in 2000.
