Recruitment drive - Why soldiers, not gardaí?

The president of the Garda Representative Association, has questioned why, in the midst of the struggle against crime in this country, the Government has a ban on the recruitment of gardaí, while 600 extra personnel were being recruited by the Defence Forces.

“Is Ireland under attack?” Damien McCarthy asked.

Alan Shatter, the justice minister, had every right to respond to those comments, but he should do so in a logical way — by explaining why those extra personnel are needed.

Instead, he avoided that issue and abused his own ministerial position by launching a personal attack on the GRA representative, accusing him of denigrating the army.

This was absurd. The only denigration of the army was the shoddy manner in which the minister used the Defence Forces to avoid tackling the issue raised at the GRA conference.

It is a legitimate question to ask why extra defence force personnel are needed while there is a ban on garda recruitment, or recruitment in other areas of the public service? The minister should answer that question, instead of engaging in gratuitous abuse.