Gardaí say lives put at risk by Government’s penny-pinching

A CASH-STRAPPED garda force is becoming increasingly ineffective with the lives of the public and gardaí being put at risk by a penny-pinching government, it was claimed yesterday.

A number of angry speakers at the annual Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference in Galway said insufficient manpower, especially at night, was inadequate to maintain a proper service.

GRA General Secretary PJ Stone described the current situation as “a scandal” adding that the overstretched thin blue line wasn’t able to counter a situation where many elderly and infirm people were locking themselves in at 7pm for fear of attack.