Garda association says force numbers lower than claimed

RANK and file gardaí said Garda numbers have been “systematically” cut to 13,500 — more than 1,000 less than the strength claimed by the Government.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) accused Justice Minister Dermot Ahern of being “disingenuous” in stating the size of the force.

GRA general secretary PJ Stone said the hit to garda numbers comes at a time when the profile of Garda reservists is being pushed throughout the force.

Writing the editorial in the Garda Review, the association’s journal, Mr Stone said the Government was playing brinkmanship between the need to save money and Garda recruitment.

“How low dare they take Garda numbers knowing there is a two-year student-probationer period between recruitment and graduation?

“They have long confused and obscured the number of gardaí available for duty by including those attested but still in training.”

In response to a parliamentary question last Wednesday, Mr Ahern said the strength of the force, as of September 30, was 14,600.

He said this included 400 attested gardaí on probation, who would complete their training in the coming months.

He said a total of 360 members of the force had either retired or had applied to retire this year.

The minister added that the general moratorium on recruitment and appointments in the public service continues to apply to the Gardaí and that no recruitment into the force has taken place.

Mr Stone said 100 new recruits promised by the minister at the Garda College in Templemore last June were not forthcoming and retirement levels were twice those of previous years.

He said that 15,000 young people had expressed their interest in joining the force, but none had been selected.

“At some point in the future, it will become apparent there are too few gardaí,” he said.

There had been “a marked increase” in the promotion of reservists, but said a reserve garda with limited powers was nothing more “than a government folly to hoodwink the public”.

Mr Stone said reserve training had continued unabated: “To extend ‘active citizenship’ into policing is unsafe and inappropriate while the full-time professional force remains under-resourced.

“It creates understandable dissatisfaction to see a recruitment drive for reservists when district patrol cars are being withdrawn.”