The Minister for Justice will bring proposals to Cabinet within the next few weeks for 2,000 extra gardaí, The Irish Times has learned. He will set up a dedicated traffic corps as the additional gardaí come on stream, he said yesterday. Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, reports.
Mr McDowell was speaking to journalists after relaunching the Crimestoppers campaign. This involves a confidential telephone number which people can ring with complete anonymity to report their knowledge of crime.
He said yesterday that the preparation for the recruitment for the extra members of the force was "in hand".
The 2,000 recruitment places will be phased in over three years. Asked if Templemore could accommodate the training of this number in such a period, a spokesman for the Minister said that existing short-term courses taking place there could be moved to other locations, freeing up resources in Templemore for training the new recruits.
The Minister also reiterated his determination to fight any claims by prisoners for compensation over the "slopping out" practice in Mountjoy prison. Both as Minister for Justice and as a lawyer, he did not think cases brought by Irish prisoners were likely to succeed.
He also pointed out that in another case brought by a prisoner seeking damages, a Circuit Court judge had issued a "garnishee" order, which would allow the prisoner's victims access to any money awarded in damages.
However, his comments were dismissed as "bluff and bluster" by the Labour spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello.
"For example, he has, for the umpteenth time, promised an increase in the strength of the Garda force by 2,000 extra members. He is now 'hopeful' of achieving this, despite knowing that he has no capability or capacity to do so. He has further promised again to set up a Garda traffic corps but knows that the gardaí have neither the personnel nor the resources at present to curb speeding offences and road deaths."
Mr Costello added: "The Minister has also waffled today about the potential legal action from prisoners over sanitary conditions in the prisons, and says he will fight them all. This despite numerous commitments from the Minister that he would install appropriate sanitary facilities in prisons which would obviate the need for such legal action."
Speaking at the relaunch of Crimestoppers, Mr McDowell said that the previous Crimestoppers campaign, started in 1998, had become severely under-resourced.
Earlier this year he chaired a meeting with business leaders, stressing his commitment to the campaign, and seeking greater financial support. The Department of Justice had made a special provision of €100,000.
A number of companies and bodies had pledged more financial support.
Much of this budget would go to a new RTÉ television crime programme, Crime Call, which will begin broadcasting later this month.
The Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, said the confidential telephone number would be based at the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Harcourt Square, Dublin, where the staff of experienced detectives was best suited to assess the information received. They could then pass it on to the appropriate Garda station.
Research showed that the promise of anonymity had a positive impact on hard-to-reach groups, and led to a significant increase in information about crime, he said. When Crimestoppers started initially, over 50 per cent of calls concerned drugs.
Mr John Hynes, chairman of the Crimestoppers Trust, said that the number will be activated following the the first of the new Crime Call programmes.