COMMENT: Fears Garda cutbacks are hitting the fight against crime

IT HAS got to the stage that when gardaí hold a murder case conference in some areas, there are nearly more senior officers in the room directing inquiries than front-line gardaí to carry out the work.

And when such a division has multiple murder or suspicious death investigations, the pressures mount up.

Add to that the activities of several serious criminal gangs, including violent feuding outfits, and something has to give. “Normally, if we had a murder or suspicious death, we were given the resources and told ‘away you go’,” said a senior officer who works in a large Dublin division which has a multitude of feuding gangs.