A senior state solicitor has claimed court cases are being adjourned because gardaí are being prohibited from attending them due to cutbacks.

Even if the justice minister keeps his promise to supply 170 patrol cars, they will still be down an estimated 130 vehicles by the end of the year, say gardaí.

The president of the association which represents the country’s frontline gardaí has accused the Government and Department of Justice of abdicating their responsibility in the fight against crime.

Two officers stationed in Cork have been elected as presidents of the largest Garda representative associations with a combined membership of 13,300.

WALKOUT threats by gardaí, based in an archaic station, have eased after the Office of Public Works (OPW) applied for planning permission to construct a new building in Glanmire, Co Cork.

PRIVATE sponsorship of Garda vehicles is a likely option as budget cuts have put the skids on the purchase of new patrol cars.

THE organisation representing the country’s rank-and-file gardaí has described conditions at a Garda station in Co Cork “as no better than a Third World sweatshop factory”.

SEVEN Garda patrol cars have been decommissioned in parts of Co Cork due to excessive mileage.

THE organisation representing the country’s rank-and-file gardaí has said its members are prepared to walk out of an archaic Garda station in a Cork suburb if they’re not provided with alternative accommodation soon.

PAEDOPHILES, sex attackers and serious criminals from other countries are slipping unnoticed into parts of rural Ireland, because there aren’t enough full-time Garda immigration officers to keep track of them.