McDowell under fire in war of words over crime

OPPOSITION parties angrily rounded on Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday after he compared Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton to the notorious Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels during a row over the level of garda resources in Dublin.

Mr McDowell said the spin put on official garda figures by Mr Bruton was akin to the skills of Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister.

"He is, I believe, the Dr Goebbels of propaganda and the figures I am issuing here prove conclusively what he is saying is rubbish."

But Fine Gael shot back with figures provided by the minister himself to bolster Mr Bruton's case that garda numbers in Dublin had increased by just two last year.

Bombast and bluster formed Mr McDowell's standard response when facts and figures didn't suit him, Mr Bruton claimed.

Labour's justice spokesman Joe Costello said: "To describe somebody in those terms, as Goebbels, is really comparing them to a Nazi. It's far beyond what is proper in normal political jousting. He should make a statement in the Dáil withdrawing those remarks."

Mr Costello said the minister was "regularly over the top in his language", having recently told the Green Party's John Gormley that the PD offices in Dublin were smashed in by "his type of people" during riots.

Green Party justice spokesman Ciarán Cuffe said: "You have to tip-toe delicately around any comparison to those involved in the Holocaust. That is a completely inappropriate comparison."

However, Mr McDowell refused to apologise for the Goebbels comparison. And he insisted the statement by Mr Bruton that only two extra gardaí had been recruited to Dublin in 2005 was "grossly misleading".

While he did not give a specific figure for the actual increase in 2005, the minister said it was a "very considerable" number.

He said the strength of the force in Dublin had risen by 278 since he became Justice Minister in June 2002. As of last night, Mr McDowell said, the strength of the force across Dublin's 18 policing districts stood at 3,794 an increase of 109 on March 31 last year.

But Mr Bruton said he simply used the figures provided to him by the minister in response to a recent Dáil question. These showed that on December 31, 2004, the number of gardaí across the Dublin districts stood at 3,740. On the same date last year, the number was 3,742 a difference of just two.

Mr McDowell attributed the December 2005 figure to fluctuations caused by retirements and other factors. But he insisted, overall, garda numbers in Dublin had risen significantly.

And he accused Mr Bruton of misleading the public by excluding from his statement the 250 to 300 gardaí allocated to specialist units based largely in Dublin, such as the Garda Immigration Bureau and the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Yet in his answer to the Dáil question, Mr McDowell had indicated the special units were not included in the Dublin tables as they provided specialised policing on a nationwide basis.