The politics of crime: you may feel safer if you take the long view

THE prospect of another long and expensive tribunal loomed this week after it appeared that Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne was allegedly to blame for the dramatic rise in crime last year.

The startling suggestion that the commissioner might have been personally responsible for the increased productivity of the villains, or that he was out mugging and pillaging himself, emerged at the Dáil Justice Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The feisty Fine Gael justice spokesman, John Deasy, remarked the commissioner's performance wasn't up to scratch, and that since the man laden down with the most braid in the force had taken up his post, crime had increased in every category.