Policing to Standstill

Staffing levels fell in more than half of all 28 Garda divisions last year, despite the deployment of almost 300 newly-qualified gardaí in recent months.
 New figures obtained from An Garda Síochána show many parts of the country have experienced a continuing reduction in Garda numbers, notwithstanding a slight increase in the overall size of the force.
New recruits are barely outnumbering those quitting the force as 281 officers left An Garda Síochána last year through retirement, illness and resignations.
The latest figures reveal that Garda manpower decreased in 15 of the 28 divisions across Ireland during 2015 including all divisions within the Dublin Metropolitan Region which has the highest crime rate in the country.
There were 75 fewer gardaí in the capital at the start of 2016 compared to 12 months previously. Staffing levels in Dublin’s six Garda divisions fell by 2.1 % to 3,491 officers.
The reduction in gardaí in Dublin came despite the fact that 122 of the 296 newly qualified recruits were deployed to stations in the city in recent months.
The number of officers attached to the Garda Traffic Corps in Dublin also fell by 11% last year with the loss of 15 patrol officers.


Concerns about Garda resources to tackle gangland crime in Dublin have become a major focus of the general election campaign following two violent murders in the city in the past week.
Fianna Fáil justice spokesperson Niall Collins said the deterioration of Garda resources was being seen in the escalation of a gangland feud over the last week in Dublin.
“The fact that Garda strength dropped in 15 of the 28 divisions around the country is a major cause for concern. Fianna Fáil has been highlighting for years that communities across the country and the Dublin Metropolitan Region were being put at risk of increased crime rate in the country. Unfortunately this is being borne out on our streets on a daily basis now,” Mr Collins said
 “We have a panicked government that seems to have only recently woken up to the reality of burglaries and lawlessness. Fianna Fáil will ensure An Garda Síochána has the power, finance and political back-up to deliver safer communities.”
Mr Collins pointed out last year that the force was struggling to maintain its existing size with almost 1,500 gardaí eligible for retirement, while on average another 500 gardaí are out sick daily with another 230 on an incentivised career break.
Garda representative bodies have criticised the Government’s announcement of the establishment of a new 55-person armed support unit for Dublin earlier this week as “misleading” as the officers are being re-assigned from other parts of the force.
Other areas which have seen Garda numbers fall since the start of 2015 include Cork City (-2.8% cent), Limerick (-1.9 %), Galway (-1.6%), Wicklow and Cavan/Monaghan (both -1.5 % ).
Slight reductions were also recorded in Meath, Tipperary, Donegal and Sligo/Leitrim.
The latest figures are likely to place further pressure on Fine Gael and Labour over their record on tackling crime and on the provision of policing resources.
They come as Fine Gael will today launch its election policy on justice in Cork.
The government maintains the size of the force is set to increase further over the coming year following its sanctioning of the recruitment of 1,150 new gardaí by the end of 2016 following the reopening of the Garda Training College in Templemore, Co Tipperary in September 2014.
“It is expected that a further 395 will attest by the end of this year which, taking account of projected retirements, will bring Garda numbers to around the 13,000 mark,” said the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald.
Even with the addition of new recruits, however, Garda numbers will still remain below levels since the Fine Gael-Labour coalition came into power in early 2011.
Since the end of 2010, staffing levels in Garda stations around the country have fallen by 1,416 to 10,911 last December – a reduction of 11.5%.
Figures provided under freedom of information legislation show the overall size of the force rose slightly in 2015 due to increases in staff based at Garda headquarters and National Services which includes the crime and security section and other specialist divisions such as the Criminal Assets Bureau and Garda National Drugs Unit.
The total size of the force last December was 12,816 compared to 12,799 at the end of 2014 – an increase of 17 officers or a rise of just 0.1%.



There has been a steady increase in the number of senior gardai at chief superintendent and superintendent level in the past 12 months, although there has been a sharp drop in the number of middle-ranking officers at inspector and sergeants level over the same period.
Some Garda divisions were allocated additional staff last year with the biggest increases recorded in Kildare (+3.7%), Kerry (+3.4%) and Waterford (+2.9%).
Other areas where Garda manpower levels grew by between 1% and 2% were Cork West, Kilkenny/Carlow, Clare, Mayo and Wexford.
A spokesman for Ms Fitzgerald said last night that the number of new recruits in the future will “outpace projected departures which are kept under continuous review to ensure appropriate recruitment levels.”
Meanwhile, gardaí have refused to provide The Times with a breakdown of staffing levels at the country’s Garda stations on the grounds of security, despite the fact that such information is routinely made available to TDs.
In what marks a major departure from how An Garda Síochána has treated such data until recently, a senior garda rejected this newspaper’s request for details on the number of officers attached to 563 individual stations.
The same information has been released on a regular basis by the Department of Justice over many years both under freedom of information legislation and in response to parliamentary questions from TDs without any apparent objection from gardaí.
 A senior garda refused the request on the basis that the information could be “reasonably expected, if used inappropriately, to prejudice or impair” gardaí’s operational capabilities.
Despite the fact that details of the number of gardaí based at individual stations can be found on the Oireachtas website, the gardaí said it would not provide such information due to its “operational sensitivity.”
“This information, if made available, could reasonably be expected to pose a risk to the safety of local gardaí when endeavouring to enforce legislation and keep the public peace in future,”
“If the number of gardaí were provided on a station level, it is reasonable to believe that a criminal organisation could use this information to assess the capabilities of the local gardaí to deal with certain types of crimes, thus prejudicing the garda organisation’s effectiveness in enforcing legislation.”
“The duty roster system in use in An Garda Síochána is available in the public domain and cross-referencing that system with the number of gardaí on a station basis could allow for a prediction to be made as to the response capabilities of gardaí by a criminal organisation.”
The garda said the release of such information constituted “an unnecessary risk.”
A Garda spokesman said last night the decision was the sole responsibility of the force’s FOI officer. He did not respond to a query as to whether such information would also now be refused to TDs in future.
A spokesman for Ms Fitzgerald said the justice minister had no role in any decisions taken by gardaí in fulfilment of their obligations under FOI legislation.
He also failed to respond to a specific query as to whether TDs should be able to continue to access figures on the number of gardaí based in individual stations.
The Social Democrat TD, Catherine Murphy, called for the release of the figures, criticising the decision as “a blow against open government.”
“We’re supposed to be moving towards an open society but without transparency there is no accountability,” said the Kildare North TD.
Ms Murphy doubted that such information would place individual gardaí at risk.
“Similar statistics like this have been released to my office in the past by parliamentary questions so you have to question why it is not now possible. What is clear is that scarce resources are being shuffled around in a constant game of catch-up. Policing should be proactive not reactive,” said
Ms Murphy.
Meanwhile, Independent TD Mattie McGrath has criticised both Ms Fitzgerald and An Garda Síochána over a delay in responding to a parliamentary question he submitted on Garda overtime over a month ago.
“I imagine this data is collated on a regular and systematic basis so the delay is dubious at best. Some TDs are experiencing absurd difficulties in obtaining information,” said the Tipperary TD.
Mr McGrath said there had been a consistent effort on the part of Ms Fitzgerald to frame the apparent increase in Garda resources as an effective response to the growing demand for on the ground policing.
“The impulse of Minister Fitzgerald seems to be to react ‘decisively’ to emergencies like the recent spate of gangland crime but yet ignore the systematic destabilisation of community policing that will in the long run contribute to a greater feeling of insecurity,” Mr McGrath said.
He added: “This minister is operating a fire-fighting policy that is feeding into the sense among criminals that they have the upper hand.”

My Vote - Your Vote

There must be a general election in the air…..as TDs’ attendance for votes in the Dáil has dropped significantly in recent months.

On average, 43% of TDs failed to show up for each division in the Dáil chamber since they returned to Leinster House after the summer holidays last September.

An analysis of the voting record of all 166 outgoing TDs over the lifetime of the current Dáil shows that an increasing numbers of deputies haven’t bothered to turn up for votes with every passing year since they were elected in 2011.

The overall absentee rate from Dáil votes rose consistently from just 21.5% in 2011 to 39.9% in 2015.

Since they returned after the Christmas holidays, approximately half of all TDs failed to cast a vote for each of the 23 divisions called in January with the Dáil sometimes struggling to find a quorum of 20 deputies.

Over the six sitting days of the Dáil in January – nine TDs have failed to show up for any vote: independent TDs Michael Lowry and Eamonn Maloney; Renua Ireland leader, Lucinda Creighton and her party colleague, Billy Timmins; Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea; Labour TDs Eamon Gilmore and Willie Penrose and Fine Gael TDs James Bannon and Tony Mc Loughlin.

In contrast, seven TDs had a perfect attendance record over the same period despite the impending election: the Government chief whip, Paul Kehoe and Fine Gael deputies, Dinny McGinley, Jim Daly, Joe Carey and Derek Keating and Labour TD, Emmet Stagg and Robert Dowds.

Even allowing for TDs switching to election mode since the Christmas break, the attendance record of many has waned considerably since last summer with 62 TDs failing to show up for more than half of all votes.

Since September former Labour and now Independent TD for Dublin South West, Eamonn Maloney missed 96% of all votes followed by former Tánaiste, Eamonn Gilmore who failed to show up for 95% of votes.

Another independent TD, Michael Lowry, didn’t cast a vote in 93% of Dáil divisions over the same period.

Over the lifetime of the current Dáil, the controversial Tipperary TD has missed more votes than any other politician with the exception of Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, whose absence from the chamber is excused because of Government business.

Mr Lowry has recorded a non-attendance rate of almost three out of every four votes since 2011.

All three Renua TDs – Lucinda Creighton, Terence Flanagan and Billy Timmins – have each been absent for over 80% of votes since last autumn.

Another of the country’s newest political parties, the Social Democrats also has one of the poorest attendance rates with the party’s three TDs collectively missing 57.5% of all votes.

Of the four larger parties Sinn Féin TDs are the most regular voters in the Dáil, being absent for just 22% of all votes over the lifetime of the current administration.

At 29% Fine Gael’s absentee rate was marginally better than its coalition partner, Labour, whose TDs missed 31% of all votes. Fianna Fáil deputies failed to show up for 38% of votes on average, with the figure rising to 49% last year.

Commenting on the figures David Farrell professor of politics at UCD, said they provided more evidence of the weakness of the Dáil and how it was treated as an irrelevancy by many politicians.

“It’s unfortunate but unsurprising. So much of what is wrong with our political system is based on the lack of accountability of the Government,” said Prof Farrell.

He claimed the increasing absentee rate by most TDs showed their frustration at how the Dáil effectively just “rubber-stamped” Government decisions.

Prof Farrell observed that the poorer attendance rate of Labour TD in the past 12 months could be related to"people with marginal seats needing to focus on their constituency" 

The same trend among Fianna Fáil TD could be interpreted as a sign of the "a sense that the party has lost its way somewhat over the last year." Prof Farrell said.

TDs who served the full term of the 31^st Dáil were eligible to cast a vote on 959 occasions over the past five years.

Unlike in previous parliaments, no arrangement existed in the outgoing Dáil whereby Opposition parties offered Government ministers and TDs a “pair” to facilitate anyone away on official State business because of the size of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition majority.

Government backbenchers know they face little sanction from party whips if they skip a vote because of the Government’s majority is virtually assured.

The Ceann Comhairle, Seán Barrett only casts a vote in the event of a tie.

The best attendance rate in the past five years was recorded by Cork South Central TD, Jerry Buttimer who missed less than 4% of all votes, narrowly ahead of his Fine Gael colleague from Galway, Seán Kyne who missed just under 5% of votes. Other TDs who diligently voted for the vast majority of votes include Sinn Féin’s Sandra McLellan, Fine Gael TDs, Joe Carey, Bernard Durkan and Dan Neville and Labour’s Seán Kenny.