Bruton blasts minister’s ‘bluster’

BOMBAST and bluster form Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s response when facts and figures don’t suit him, Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton said last night.

Mr Bruton was responding to what he labelled a “hysterical, preening and personalised attack” by Mr McDowell in the row over Garda manpower.

“The Minister for Justice does not like it when the facts don’t support his inflated perception of himself,” Mr Bruton said.

The figures, as provided by the minister himself in response to a Dáil question from Mr Bruton, showed that total manpower for the 18 policing districts in the greater Dublin area stood at 3,742 on December 31, 2005. This was in comparison with 3,740 for the corresponding period in 2004.

Mr Bruton used the figures in a press release to suggest that Mr McDowell only delivered an increase of two gardaí to Dublin last year.

But Mr McDowell claimed manpower in Dublin now stood at 3,794.

And he accused Mr Bruton of misleading the public by excluding 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 Mr McDowell had not provided those figures in his answer to the Dáil question. Instead, he indicated special units were not included in the tables because they provided specialised policing nationwide.

Last night, Mr Bruton insisted the simple fact was that between 2004 and 2005, just two extra gardaí had been assigned to the Dublin area.

“The minister tried to distract attention, cause a political row, and even personally attack me. This does not help to get more gardaí on the beat.

“Detection rates are low, and they have been falling in the last five years. In the case of burglaries, 85% of burglaries are undetected; in the case of theft and robberies, nearly two-thirds are undetected; of serious assaults, 44% are undetected. If the probability of getting detected is falling the way it is, that is a clear signal to criminals that they can get away with it. This is on his watch.”

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte waded into the row, supporting his pre-election pact partners.

Mr Rabbitte said the situation in Tallaght, which lies in his constituency, was a good example. Figures from the Department of Justice indicated that the number of gardaí in Tallaght had fallen from 173 in 2004 to 167 last year.

“These figures starkly expose not just the inadequacy of policing provision in Tallaght but the hollowness at the heart of Minister McDowell’s hectoring and bully boy challenges to pistols at dawn,” he said.