Shatter confident of securing funds for policing state visits

JUSTICE Minister Alan Shatter says he is “confident” additional money will be released from exchequer funds to pay for security during the visits of US President Barack Obama and the Queen of England, which could cost up to €25 million.

The minister made the comment while attending the 33rd annual Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference in Westport, Co Mayo. He declined to comment on the cost of the operations next month, which GRA general secretary PJ Stone said could hit €25m and couldn’t be borne from the already constricted Garda budget.

Mr Shatter said he was “fully committed” to ensuring that the highest level of security was available to cover next month’s visits by the two heads of state.

The news was welcomed by the GRA, which represents the rank and file members of the force, but the minister then proceeded to pour cold water on the organisation’s request to at least maintain the number of gardaí at the current level of 14,500.

He said it was intended to reduce the strength of the force to 13,000 by the end of 2014.

Mr Shatter said the Government was “compelled to reduce public expenditure, not increase it”.

He said the reduction in numbers would bring the Garda strength back to what it was in 2006 and added that he wasn’t in favour of disbanding the Garda Reserve, a move the GRA had called for.

“What has a profound impact on public safety or successful investigations is not a matter of numbers. What is important among other things is smart policing, investigative skills, reliable intelligence, technological and forensic supports and co-operative policing across borders,” Mr Shatter said. He gave gardaí little succour when it came to GRA demands that they shouldn’t be hit with even further pay reductions because of the dangerous nature of the job.

“I want to see members of the Garda Síochána properly paid for their work, and indeed average Garda pay has for a long time been, and remains, consistently higher than average pay elsewhere in the public sector. But we are all aware of the financial and economic crisis which has led to the need for reductions.”

While not condoning recent recorded comments made by some gardaí involved in the policing of the Corrib gas pipeline dispute, Mr Shatter said he was “disappointed” at attempts made by some protesters involved “to exploit this incident with the aim of undermining the Garda Síochána and compromising the policing of the dispute”.