Sir, – Brendan Cafferty (Letters, March 27th) purports to speak with authority in relation to the current situation regarding Garda resources and personnel numbers. He argues that in his day (the 1970s, it seems) there was only one car per district, similar numbers of serving members, and fewer women who could take maternity leave. Is this for real? He only stopped short of saying he had to walk around in his bare feet and carry a lump of coal for the station fire.
A look at population statistics would have shown him that there are well over a million more people in the county than there were in 1979, requiring a proportionate increase in garda numbers. Cars are vastly more prevalent, requiring more Garda cars to respond to the very mobile modern criminal. This is also part of the reason for specialist units. Gone are the days when drugs were to be found only in Dublin, there were only a handful of largely domestic murders per year to investigate and computer crime etc wasn’t even a consideration.
With regard to his attitude to female gardaí and career breaks it is clear that he sees both as an unnecessary luxury, which is baffling in a time of supposed understanding of family and personal needs. He also suggests that it’s a problem that gardaí don’t live in their areas of work anymore. Did he consider that the reason for this might be because most could not afford to buy in these areas? They didn’t buy houses miles from their workplace because they enjoy driving huge distances daily to work.
The gardaí of the 1970s did great service fighting threats to the State, but I think nostalgia may have clouded Mr Cafferty’s capacity for rational thought. The modern garda has just as much reason – and more – to be fearful when he goes to work given the proliferation of drug-related gun crime and violence. Perhaps Mr Cafferty should spend less time dancing at the crossroads and more time reading crime and demographic statistics. Yours, etc,
KEVIN FLYNN,
Temple Court,
Santry,
Dublin 9
Sir, – I am very much amused by the many people who deny knowledge of phone tapping in Garda stations. If you consider the practicalities of the initiative, someone had to assess the various bugging products available, choose one, buy it, install it, run it and then change the tapes almost daily back in the 1980s when cassette tapes were used. As technology changed, newer equipment had to be bought, invoices approved, rubber-stamped by officials and paid out. Over the decades there must have been hundreds of gardaí involved all around the country running the system. It is not remotely conceivable that at least some gardaí at every rank in every station did not know exactly what was happening. Yours, etc,
JOE BERGIN,
Caragh Green,
Naas,
Co Kildare
Sir, – Given that the taping of Garda phones started in Border-area stations in the 1980s in order to combat IRA threats (Arthur Beesley, March 27th), could these tapes be examined for Dundalk station for the days around the murder of the two RUC officers to check for Garda informants’ calls? Some good could possibly result from this sorry situation. Yours, etc,
JOHN McDERMOTT,
Oakglen View,
Bray,
Co Wicklow
Sir, – One of the assumptions surrounding the penalty points controversy seems to be that gardaí can lawfully exercise discretion to cancel penalty points at different levels of the force. But a review of case law and the Constitution suggests this could be queried. In the case of the issuance of gun licences the courts held that a higher-ranked garda could not interfere (by imposing an additional condition) in the statutorily appointed garda’s exercise of discretion. This suggests that only the original issuing garda (in the case of a fixed penalty notice) possesses discretion, after which only the courts should set aside notices. The “courts only” system seems to work in Britain without any of the purported problems that some claim are inevitable. Yours, etc,
KIERAN FITZPATRICK,
Cummer,
Co Galway
Sir, – The current Dáil inter-party bluster and fury on matters relating to Garda whistleblower/penalty point issues is about as relevant to the general public as a dispute in a local golf club. Its very irrelevance, however, makes it an ideal subject for debate in the Seanad. Yours, etc,
MICK O’BRIEN,
Springmount,
Kilkenny
Sir, – Minister Brendan Howlin’s statement to the effect that “Alan Shatter has the full confidence of every member of the Government” is very worrying indeed. Only a matter of a few days ago how many members of that same Government, including the Taoiseach. were expressing their confidence in the Garda commissioner?
Enough said. Yours, etc,
GEARÓID KILGALLEN,
Crosthwaite Park South,
Dún Laoghaire
Sir, – Question: When is an apology not an apology? Answer: “I believe it is appropriate that I apologise to both (the House and the whistleblowers).” Question: When is an apology an apology? Answer: I apologise to Sgt Maurice McCabe and former garda Wilson. I apologise to members of this House. Yours, etc,
JOHN McHUGH,
Smithfield Market,
Dublin 7
Sir, – The recent debacle concerning the Garda and Minister Alan Shatter could well be summed by quoting Samuel Johnson, who observed that “the Irish are a very fair-minded people; they never speak well of one another.” Yours, etc,
DEREK HENRY CARR,
Harcourt Terrace,
Dublin 2
Sir, – “He’s never been afraid to deal with what’s been lying under a lot of carpets for many years” (the Taoiseach to Deputy Donnelly). Has Bertie been coaching Enda? Yours, etc,
NIALL GINTY,
The Demesne,
Killester,
Dublin 5