Gardaí welcome plans for digital radio system

GARDAÍ have welcomed the announcement of a new digital radio system, but said they have been waiting ten years for it.

However, representative groups said it was essential the system roll-out nationwide as soon as possible to ensure the safety of officers.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday announced that a consortium had been selected to begin the first phase of the new service and, if it proves effective, will roll-out the system nationwide within a further two years.

Tetra Ireland Ltd — comprising Eircom, Motorola and Sigma Wireless — will set up and operate the system, which will have a capital value of more than €250 million.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said the former Justice Minister John O’Donoghue had started looking at a replacement system in 1997.

“This is long overdue,” said GRA president John Egan. “The present system is obsolete, you can’t get spare parts for it. This is something that has been needed for many, many years. Finally, it seems to be started.

“We welcome the beginning of the roll-out. The main question we have is, when will it go nationwide? When will we be all in possession of it?”

A spokesman for the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) said it’s essential that gardaí had a modern radio system in place, with the minimum of delay.

“Members have too long had to suffer the vagaries of the existing system — blackspots and breakdowns — and had to subsidise the garda radio service with their own personal mobile phones.”

Mr McDowell said the system would go through two phases. The first will involve an evaluation of the new system in north Dublin which, if positive, will result in a national roll-out.

He was eager to avoid any of the controversies that accompanied other major Government IT systems, such as Pulse, and wanted to make sure they weren’t “buying a pig in a poke.”

Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe said the launch was a cynical pre-election publicity stunt. “The truth is that Michael McDowell is only taking action now because he knows his job is on the line after five wasted years, and is desperately embarking on projects he should have done years ago.”

The system would bring An Garda Síochána into line with other European police forces and allow gardaí to link up with the Police Service of Northern Ireland in cross-border probes.

It will also allow direct communication between the country’s blue light services — fire crews, marine rescue, ambulance and other emergency services.

The existing radio system is 23 years old and only the traffic corps use it day-to-day, because of the ease with which communications can be monitored by criminals. There are also areas of the state with poor or no coverage and the network is proving extremely costly to maintain.

When in place, however, criminals will no longer be able to eavesdrop, intercept or scan communications, as they can with the old analogue system.