‘Resources, not new law, needed to battle crime’

More resources, not more laws, are what is needed to combat the threat posed by serious armed criminals, according to a former top detective inspector.

Brian Sherry said the Government should stop “dismantling” the force and instead ensure it had the staff and resources to do its job.

He said gardaí faced the threat of being killed every day and many detectives tasked with confronting armed criminals have had their firearms withdrawn or have to share them with colleagues.

“My heart goes out to Garda Donohoe’s family. It’s a huge loss, a husband and a father with two young kids and he’s so young,” said Mr Sherry.

Mr Sherry said there would have been no doubt the gang knew he was a garda and that a Garda escort accompanied the cash delivery.

“If you go out with a loaded gun you intend to use it, even at guards,” said Mr Sharry. “A sawn-off shotgun is a most lethal and unreliable weapon. It has a hair-trigger mechanism.”

He said society must respond to the atrocity and urged the Government to take stock of what it is doing to the force.

“The Government needs to have a serious rethink of what’s what,” he said. “They are literally dismantling the gardaí for sake of trying to save a few miserable million.

“What we need now is not new laws, we need more resources. We need proper staff levels.

“Resources are what’s important, sufficient resources to do policing properly.”

He said part of this involved keeping detectives supplied with the best weaponry and ensuring they had access to proper training. But the opposite was happening, he said.

“Every detective unit have had guns taken off them,” he said. “There’s not enough money to buy ammunition and there’s no training. You need regular training for firearms and access to firing ranges. I know colleagues who are sharing weapons.”

Last April, concerns were expressed at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors at the removal of Uzi sub- machine guns from detectives, leaving them with just a handgun.

Mr Sherry said detective units and drug units no longer had the resources to plan and carry out the number of searches and operations against crime gangs they wanted to, because of staff shortages and reductions in overtime and allowances.