Munster gardaí vow to oppose reserve force

EXPERIENCED gardaí would have to keep one eye on rioters and another on reservists if Minister for Justice Michael McDowell pushes through plans to create a back-up force, it was claimed last night.

In an even bigger show of strength from a meeting held last week in Sligo, nearly 1,100 rank-and-file and middle-management gardaí from all over Munster attended a meeting in the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork, to protest against the Minister McDowell's plans to create a 4,000-strong reserve force.

The showdown with the minister and gardaí gained momentum when GRA president Dermot O'Donnell declared the weekend riot in Dublin clearly demonstrated "the foolishness" of the minister's proposals.