Well said.

Whis is it guys……..do he want more Gardai or less crime? As soon as the statistics are published and show that burglaries are way down you start abusing the Minister. It clearly shows that you have a different agenda to those that fear the night prowlers.
Based on logic then the contributors are probably made up of those with an opposing agenda to that of the Government Parties or also include a number of Gardai who use this type of method as an alternative to rational arguments within the permitted industrial relations process.
Surely we should be welcoming the continuing decline in domestic burglaries?

Well said Sarge

Okay Mr Shatter to prove your point check pulse to see how many of these so called gardai ‘freed from desk duties’ have arrested or assisted in the apprehension of a burglar?! These lies are getting tiresome.

Black times? The Garda budget is today 50% higher (even when you consider inflation) than it was at the beginning of the boom, 1997. In 2006, at the height of the boom, there were less guards in the force than there are now. While it may not be ideal times for the guards, I reckon saying it’s ‘black’ is an exaggeration.

Get your facts right before you preach.

Correct me so.

Hence my nickname for him..”inspector clueless”.
He really is a buffoon and fits in well with kenny’s muppet show.

Some amount of red thumbs for my post above. Can anyone at all explain how I’m wrong?!

Alan u are a plank, u haven’t taken the cost of inflation, living or anything !!! Ur comparing seriously old and uncomparisonable stats !!!

No Seamus, I’m not a plank. Inflation? Reread at my original post and come back to me.

That’s like saying ohhh I bought my house back in 1990 for 60k and Jesus I went to buy my neighbours house in 2013 for 130k … Wtf .. That’s not right … Again I reiterate… Compare like with like ….

Here, will you read my original post. Look at the part in brackets, these things ( ), that says “even when you consider inflation”.

@alan Harte. Is it possible that the lack of Gardai going back To the 90s and early 2000s, has led to the huge problem we have today with drugs and gangland killings?? Not to mind the huge numbers of inmates that populate our prisons, costing our state an absolute fortune to keep them there? If our streets and communities had been properly policed and effective resources given to the guards long before now, maybe we wouldn’t be in the state we are in, and maybe there would be enough money in the coffers to pay the gardai the wage that they work for and are entitled to, instead of robbing them and other frontline staff to feather their own sumptuous nests!

Also when I grew up the guards give u a serious kicking… No court…. And u respected them for that … Can’t do a tap ..

There were almost a million less people in the country back in 96/97 Alan. Of course there were less Gardai back then. That’s the point. The population is up around 4.65 million give or take and the Garda numbers are being cut. Do you have any idea why the Garda budget is higher? There is now a tetra system in place costing an absolute fortune that wasn’t there in 1997. There WERE more Gardai that needed more equipment and vehicles. (The government were shamed into providing better equipment by the Garda inspectorate) Garda pay went up in line with inflation, productivity and efficiencies and as recognition for the qualifications and quality of the training. What you seem to be failing to grasp whilst spouting your statistics is that there’s no point in quoting 1997 or pre boom as an appropriate reference point as a time when there were adequate resources. There were not adequate resources. There are still not adequate resources. Your statistics are flawed Alan.

There were also almost 350000 or so less people in the country in 2006 compared to the 2011 census figures. The Garda numbers were proportional to the population at the time. The present govt don’t seem to be bothered about stats like that in their blind efforts to take money from services to pay back the debts.

Jason here here, well said.

Jan 1997 we had 10,700 Garda (approx)…today we have 13,600 Garda (approx), in the same years there has also been a big increase in civilian employees which I don’t have numbers for. Also the IT systems are way way way ahead of what we had in 1997, which was none. This would comfortably explain the rise in the budget.

But did you take into account the change from punt to euro?

Garda Budget 1997 was £600 million (punts) = €762 million (Euro)
Garda Budget 2012 was €1.3 billion (Euro)

I’d say your figures are wrong.

We also have more Gardai today that at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

@B, you are making my point. The Garda organisation are in a much better place now, in terms of resources and numbers that they were even in some of the boom years. And I’ve double checked, the garda budget for 1997 was €599 million (converted from punts).

Consecutively?

Sorry – meant the opposite of consecutively. Concurrently?

Alan….Jack….Still sounds like Crap. Parasites wearing different colour shirts but Still Parasites.

Sinn Fein posting in praise of the Gardai when they spent years attacking them and killing them through their “military wing” is a bit hard to take.

Me thinks the misfortunate is premature!!

Sorry, red thumbed u In error!

The guards have been around since the first half of the last century. Their number at the moment has never been as high with the exception of a couple years at the very end of the boom. This country has gone through many peaks and troughs since its foundation. Most of that time money wasn’t in plentiful supply for things like overtime. Yet it’s now people say morale is at an all time low and make references to ‘black times’ for guards. I think most people forgot about, or were too young to remember, life pre-boom.

Fact??…back up your ridiculous statement with some facts if you don’t mind!

You’re obviously in need of attention Malcolm?

That statement must be true, especially when you write ‘fact’ after it.

It has to be in capital letters with about 16 exclamation marks for it to be true.

The only idiot there is the defendant who’s making a balls of his own case then starts shouting over the judge. He’s proof that anyone who represents himself has a fool for a client.