McDowell defends €100m Garda overtime bill

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has defended a Garda overtime bill which was more than €100 million last year, saying it was necessary in the fight against organised crime.

Figures released by the Department of Justice showed that in 2006 the overtime bill at €102.6 million was up by a third on the previous year. The top earner, a sergeant in Dublin, received €77,363 in overtime. The increase has been attributed to Operation Anvil, which was set up in late 2005 to deal with organised crime in Dublin. It was extended to all the State last year.

Mr McDowell said the Government was happy to stand by the Garda in relation to the payments. He had told Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy to use all available resources to ensure that he got the maximum return on the available manpower.

"Overtime payments to people who are, for instance, lying in ditches around the country waiting for gangs from Dublin to carry out burglaries . . . or surveillance of top gangland bosses, all of that costs a lot of money and can't just be done on the ordinary shift system.

"No matter how many guards you have, you can never operate an extensive surveillance or intelligence operation on the basis that people clock on for 7½ hours and then go home for their tea. That's not the way that serious policing works."

Mr McDowell also defended the payment of more than €10 million in compensation and settlements to individuals who had sued the Garda over the last five years for reasons including assault and unlawful arrest. He said they were not "massively out of line" with compensation payments paid out in other places.

Mr McDowell was speaking at Terenure Garda station in Dublin where gardaí paraded stab-proof vests which will be standard issue for all 11,000 uniformed gardaí over the coming weeks.