Garda recruitment cuts - We may face greater risk of violence

Prior to the last general election, the Government promised to recruit extra gardaí. About 1,180 new recruits were taken into the Garda Training College at Templemore this year but, with the budgetary cuts, that number is going to drop by more than 66% to a mere 400 next year.

The Garda budget for 2009 has been cut by 2%, or €26.7 million. There will be a cut of 33% in Garda overtime, but the bulk of the savings will be in recruitment cuts.

It will be the first time since the late 1980s that recruitment has been cut. This makes a mockery of the manpower increases promised by the then justice minister, Michael McDowell, in the run-up to last year’s general election. The last time recruitment was cut back, Damien McCarthy, vice-president of the Garda Representative Association, warned that it had a knock-on effect over a number of years. More gardaí were retiring than were being recruited, and society suffered in that criminal elements were able to extend their influence during those years.