Garda Plans 'Make Sense', Says Shatter

Ireland's Justice Minister has said that it "makes sense" for the Garda to organise contingency plans in the wake of numerous retirements and station closures.

Under the terms of the Troika bailout, more than 1,000 Gardaí have to be cut from the force, while a raft of retirements is expected before new rules on pensions come into force next February.

Justice Minsiter, Alan Shatter has called Fianna Fail’s predictions that 24 Garda stations will close in Donegal alone as "alarmist".

The Minister said that it "makes sense" for the Garda Commissioner to make contingency plans, including the closure of stations, to deal with reduced officer numbers.

He added : "The Garda Commission is wisely looking at stations right across the country to ascertain whether there are efficiencies which could be put in place which will ensure that the trained gardaí are used to the best possible advantage.

"There are also savings that can be made in some circumstances for example, stations could close at nine or 10 o'clock at night instead of staying open all night".

Mr Shatter has already spoken up about the issues facing the garda. At the beginning of September he said that they were more than prepared for the peak in retirements.

It was predicted then that 8% of the force might take early retirement: this comes at a time when recruitment is frozen.

"The scaling down of the Garda force had been planned and publicly known for many months," said Mr Shatter.

According to the Minister this reduction was part of the agreed arrangement at the time of Ireland's bailout deal with the EU and International Monetary Fund.

It was decided that cost- cutting plans would see the force reduced to 13,000 by 2014. Furthermore the schedule for cuts would see the force minimised to 13,500 by the end of this year.

(LB/BMcC)