Croke Park rejection scuppers hiring of gardaí

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has put on hold plans to restart Garda recruitment following the rejection of Croke Park II by unions.

Mr Shatter said that while he did not want Garda numbers to fall below 13,000 — the minimum set by Commissioner Martin Callinan — he could not recruit people without money to pay them.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Superintendents, the minister said: “On the question of Garda strength, my objective is to ensure that numbers will not fall below 13,000. I have said elsewhere that I intended to shortly bring proposals on this to Cabinet. Of course, if new members of the force are to be recruited I have to ensure the funds exist to pay them.”

He added: “In this context, unfortunately, the situation that I now face is that there is currently no new agreement on public pay issues but there is still a projected €300m budgetary shortfall in 2013.”

Association general secretary Supt Pat McCabe said earlier that Garda numbers were at “critically low levels” and that the numbers must not be allowed to fall below 13,000.

“Recruitment must be initiated again to sustain that. Because we’re at a critically low level towards that 13,000 and it will take a period of time to fully train up somebody into a competent garda.”

Garda strength stood at 13,400 at the end of last year. A total of 1,200 gardaí are eligible, if they wish, to retire. Last November, Commissioner Callinan said he did not want numbers to go below 13,000 if he was to provide an effective police service.

On a separate matter, Mr Callinan told the conference he had ordered a review of previous Garda investigations into sex abuse claims against a renowned Irish- language activist. The announcement followed calls from Rape Crisis Network Ireland for a review into how gardaí investigated accusations in relation to TV host Domhnall Ó Lubhlaí.