FG, Labour pledge to enforce Garda Reserve

FINE GAEL and Labour yesterday said they would fully implement the Garda Reserve if they form the next government.

The parties will pursue the policy despite the highly publicised opposition of the two main representative bodies — the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).

The parties ridiculed the record of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell in relation to the reserve.

Their spokespersons on justice said the minister’s own figures showed that only 36 reservists had completed their training to date, and that a further 86 were in training.

“I intend to pick up the pieces,” said Fine Gael’s Jim O’Keeffe.

“The Garda Reserve, at this stage, hardly exists; it’s another broken promise by this government. Thirty six is all we have.”

He said he was in favour of the reserve. “I think we need greater visibility, more feet on the beat.

“It will release full-time members to frontline policing and reinforce public visibility by having some of them on the ground with garda members.”

He said in government, he would establish why the reserve wasn’t working, but stressed this would be done in consultation with the staff associations.

“I’ve had many meetings with the GRA and AGSI. I know where they stand and they know where I stand, but I’m sure we can resolve any issues.”

He said the associations’ main problem was they felt the minister had broken a commitment that the reserve would not be implemented in the lifetime of the government.

“He was virtually right, in the end, with all his huffing and puffing, we have 36 reservists.”

Labour’s Brendan Howlin said both he and the party supported the Garda Reserve.

“We were very critical of the way it was handled, because it was deliberately hyped by the minister.

“Once he got all the publicity he was going to get, he walked away from the implementation of it, so only have a handful of reserves in place.”

He said the reservists would help gardaí man certain large-scale events.

“As a rule of thumb, I was suggesting about 10% of force... would be an appropriate figure, around 1,400 or thereabouts, over a proper training period.”