Cutting funds to fight organised crime a disaster

ON Tuesday, Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan announced that the budget for tackling organised crime has been cut by more than half.

This savage cut will be disastrous for the prevention of organised crime in Ireland.

Organised crime is rife in Ireland and especially in Dublin and Limerick.

Gangland murders are at a staggering level and most of these are as a direct result of organised crime.

If anything the budget for organised crime should have been added to and the active prevention effort intensified. Although the commissioner promised that when needed, the money would be available for specialist operations.

Commissioner Callinan did make the admission that the policing of organised crime will have to be done with less resources and personnel.

This admission shows that he has concerns about the effectiveness of the policing in this area and that it may be difficult to aggressively target the scourge of organised crime.

These colossal cuts could see more murders from 2010 go unsolved and an increase on the 19 gangland murders that occurred last year.

Some things should not have their budgets cut and the gardaí need all the resources possible to police organised crime in Ireland.

The work of gardaí is tough enough without their funds being cut in such a vital area.

The move to slash the funds for fighting organised crime is a grave decision that will inevitably have devastating consequences.

Justin Kelly

Edenderry

Co Offaly