Recruitment drive - Why soldiers, not gardaí?

The president of the Garda Representative Association, has questioned why, in the midst of the struggle against crime in this country, the Government has a ban on the recruitment of gardaí, while 600 extra personnel were being recruited by the Defence Forces.

“Is Ireland under attack?” Damien McCarthy asked.

Alan Shatter, the justice minister, had every right to respond to those comments, but he should do so in a logical way — by explaining why those extra personnel are needed.