Gardaí alarmed as most overtime is cancelled after budget runs out
GARDA overtime for regular policing operations nationwide has been cancelled because the force’s annual budget is in danger of running out before Christmas.
All garda regional commanders and divisional chiefs were told yesterday that the cutbacks were to be implemented immediately and would last until Sunday night.
A senior garda officer said last night that the drastic measure was necessary now to avoid the force running out of money before the end of the year.
And the capital’s most senior officer, Assistant Commissioner Pat Leahy, informed all chief superintendents in the gardai’s Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) that overtime would be cancelled until the end of the year in that region.
However, Operation Hybrid, which is an initiative designed to provide an armed response to organised crime in the capital, including intensive patrolling and regular checkpoints, will not be hit by the overtime ban.
Also exempt from the shock move is Operation C-Port, which is in place to beef up security at Dublin Port and to co-operate with the Revenue authorities.
It was unclear last night whether the overtime ban in Dublin would stand until the rest of the year, as it is expected
that the cutbacks nationwide would last only a few days.
It is expected that a proposal to provide an additional allocation of money to gardaí to help fund special operations for the rest of 2017 will shortly be approved.
But sources revealed last night that rank-and-file gardaí have been left in a state of “complete shock” over the development.
A GRA source told the Irish Independent that one city centre station needs around half a dozen officers working overtime on a daily basis for the station “just to properly function” because of the lack of gardaí.
“Regular policing in this city cannot be done without overtime because we simply don’t have the numbers,” the GRA source said.
“For overtime to be abol- ished in the run-up to Christmas is a really bad idea. This is a very busy time for crime with a traditional major increase in thefts and burglaries.
“At this time of year, with all the alcohol use and misuse, there is also a big increase in assaults, domestic rows and other crimes associated with the party season. This is a disaster,” the GRA source warned.
Outside the Dublin metropolitan region, assistant commissioners and chief superintendents will have to use their own discretion on the implementation of the cutbacks.
But Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park has stressed that priority should be given, where possible, to Operation Thor, which is spearheading the garda drive against travelling gangs involved in burglary and theft rampages across the nation.
When contacted by the Irish Independent, garda headquarters issued an official statement: “An Garda Siochana is provided with an annual budget, which is reviewed on a continual basis to ensure we are working within that budget”.
Last month, it emerged that garda overtime nationally this year was then 50pc over budget, with the vast majority of this spent in Dublin.
‘Regular policing in this city cannot be done without overtime because we simply don’t have the numbers’