Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

The usual approach is for the Government to criticise the Opposition with regard to Garda numbers for the two years in which it was in office in recent times. It should be noted that during the Celtic tiger years from 1997 to 2002, the Government recruited an average of 150 gardaí per year. The praise lavished on the former Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, was somewhat unrealistic because in order to conform to the new touchy feely ethos of the Administration, many Fianna Fáil backbenchers turned on Deputy McCreevy and he finished up in Brussels. They were grateful to him, however, when he went on a spending bonanza for more than a year before the last general election, spending all around him in order to buy the election for Fianna Fáil. We all know what happened after the election to the promise by the former Minister, Deputy McCreevy, that there would be no cutbacks. It is now stated that since there was prudent economic management in the first two years of the Administration, it is time to dispense the largesse and it is in this context that there is to be an increase in Garda numbers.

The Fianna Fáil manifesto of 1997 pledged to withdraw gardaí from routine civilian work and traffic duties and to give these duties to local authorities. Is this proposal dead or has there been a withdrawal of gardaí from civilian duties? The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, made a significant point when he stated the new recruits would not be involved in civilian duties. I accept and appreciate this comment.

There are many elements in what the Minister is trying to do, one of which is to recognise the multicultural society which exists. We can promote this multiculturalism and the visibility of ethnic communities by absorbing people from those communities into the Garda.