‘Criminals cannot be caught by Skype’

A row has broken out between the leaders of rank-and-file gardaí and the justice minister after they accused him of being “soft on crime” and “dismantling frontline policing”.

In a hard-hitting speech at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) annual conference yesterday, the organisation’s president, Damien McCarthy, claimed that Alan Shatter and his Cabinet colleagues had failed to establish themselves as the government of law and order.

“So far, you have been soft on crime, soft on the causes of crime, and soft on the proceeds of crime,” said Garda McCarthy.