Garda chief: Retirements will leave big gaps in force

The country’s top garda has admitted there will be “significant gaps” in the force as a result of almost 300 gardaí retiring in the first two months of 2012.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan revealed yesterday that many senior-ranking gardaí were having to manage two regions due to the large number of their colleagues who are retiring before the end of February to obtain more favourable pension arrangements.

“It is proving to be quite difficult,” he said.

Mr Callinan released figures to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which showed that the strength of the force will have fallen by 5.4% from just over a year ago.

The PAC heard that 483 gardaí left the force during 2011, with a further 293 due to retire in the first two months of this year — a total of 776 in the past 14 months — leaving the current strength of the Garda at 13,601 by the end of February compared to 14,377 at the start of 2011.

Mr Callinan was unable to provide any information on whether the Government was planning to fund a new round of recruitment for the gardaí.

The Garda budget will also decrease by 8% in 2012 to €1.325bn.

Mr Callinan said there were four vacancies at assistant commissioner level, with 19 vacancies among chief superintendents and 49 at superintendent level.

Questioned about the cutbacks by TDs, Mr Callinan said he was committed to maintaining operational effectiveness through “intelligence-led, time-limited, focused policing”.

He announced that a major reform of Garda rostering would be introduced in April which would see greater flexibility and more staggered starting times for officers.

He expressed confidence there would be movement on Government approval for the promotion of officers to fill the existing vacancies “in the very near future”.

However, he conceded “considerable gaps” would still remain even after all such positions were filled.

Mr Callinan confirmed 39 garda stations will close during the coming year. However, he reassured the public that gardaí from such stations would continue to have responsibilities for those areas in recognition of the sensitivity of the issue.

While welcoming a recent decrease in the number of aggravated burglaries and assaults, the commissioner expressed concern such attacks had become more violent.

“The level of violence is quite vicious,” he said.

€5m probe

The public spending watchdog is to investigate how €5m of taxpayers’ money ended up in an “unofficial” account belonging to the country’s largest trade union, which financed 40 overseas trips for senior public servants and trade union officials.

The PAC has asked &John Buckley, the comptroller and auditor general, to examine how the unofficial Siptu account operated between 1998 and 2010 with money provided by the HSE.

PAC chairman John McGuinness said the committee was being frustrated by Siptu and the HSE attempting to play “pass the parcel” on the issue. He expressed dissatisfaction with how both were dealing with the controversy and their failure to respond to letters.

He claimed the stand-off left the PAC with no option but to get the C&AG to conduct a comprehensive report on the operation of the account.

The issue is also the subject of a separate Garda inquiry.

PAC powers

The Government should give additional powers to the PAC in order to investigate potential waste of taxpayers’ money by local authorities.

PAC chairman John McGuinness yesterday called for legislation to enable the committee to investigate public spending on the Poolbeg incinerator in Dublin.

It followed an RTÉ Prime Time report earlier this week, which highlighted how €80m of public money had been spent on the project to date, including €29m on consultants.

Mr McGuinness questioned how the €29m spent on consultants, of which €4m was on public relations, could be justified in the current economic situation.

“It has to be scrutinised at the highest level,” he said.

He also criticised Dublin City Council and the Local Government Audit Service for failing to raise any questions about such levels of spending.

“People are frustrated and annoyed at the waste of taxpayers’ money with the State seeming to stand idly by.”

PAC members also criticised the recent controversial decision by Dublin City Council to privatise its bin collection service, which has the potential to impact on the viability of the Poolbeg incinerator.