Vol. 419 No. 3
45 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Justice if he will make a statement on recent comments made by the general secretary of the Garda Representative Association to the Dáil Select Committee on Crime, that a massive injection of money and manpower is needed to tackle the growing crime rate and that another reason for the high crime rate was the scrapping of the Garda Task Force, and the action, if any, he intends to take regarding these proposals.
As I am sure the Deputy well realises, large increases in investment of resources, regardless of the taxpayer's ability to pay for same, are something which it is all too easy to call for but which no responsible Government could provide without regard to the implications. I would also draw the Deputy's attention to the remarks of the Garda Commissioner at the GRA Conference earlier this week where he rejected claims that a lack of resources was hampering the policing function in this jurisdiction. Having said that, it is my firm intention, as I have already indicated to the same Conference, to do the very best I can for the gardaí in the matter of allocation of resources.
The current strength of the Garda Síochána is 10,880 and a total expenditure in excess of £341 million is provided for in this year's Estimates in respect of the service which the Force provides to the public. The current ratio of gardaí to population compares more than favourably with the police/ population ratio in other EC member states. Moreover, to ensure that the Force is kept up to full strength, a recruitment campaign is underway to recruit 1,000 new gardaí over the next few years. The first batch of these new recruits commenced training at the Garda College last month.
The crime problem in this country is not amenable to any "quick-fix" solution. Crime is a multi-dimensional issue. It requires a sophisticated response from the community as a whole and from all the relevant agencies and authorities. From the policing perspective, crime can best be tackled through the optimum management of manpower and physical resources, through sophisticated training and tactics and through ensuring that the Gardai have the appropriate legal powers to perform their task effectively. In this regard, as part of my on-going programme of reform of the criminal law I will be publishing, later this year, a Criminal Justice Bill which will give increased powers to the Garda Síochána to protect the public from threatening behaviour on the streets.
