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 Fine Gael Justice Minister Alan Shatter has announced that the controversial Garda recruitment ban, currently in force, will start again after plans were sanctioned by the Public Spending Minister Brendan Howlin.
The Minister stated that it was very important for an organisation like An Garda Síochána, given the demanding nature of policing, to receive a reasonably regular intake of new recruits. He will now make arrangements with the Public Appointments Service, so that they can do the necessary preparatory work to deal with new applications later this year.
While the Minister would not disclose how many full-time Gardaí would be hired as part of this process, he indicated that advertisements for these new posts would be placed in national newspapers.
The Minister and the Garda Commissioner Mr Martin Callinan were both attending a Garda Reserve Graduation ceremony at the Garda College, Templemore at midday today, when his announcement was made.
Some 100 Garda Reserve personnel graduated today, made up of 72 men and 28 women and amongst those graduating were citizens from Albania, Romania, Croatia, India, Poland and Lithuania. There are currently 1269 Garda Reserve officers in the force, with 1063 of these fully attested while 206 are presently receiving training.
 Last night, up to 50,000 illegal cigarettes were seized here in Co Tipperary. The haul, which is understood to have a retail value of around €21,000, was discovered in two homes in the Roscrea area.
The cigarettes have a potential loss to the Irish Exchequer of some €18,000 and it is understood that a number of people have been questioned, while a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Meanwhile here in Thurles town, Gardaí were also investigating a break-in yesterday at the Thurles Shopping Centre on Slievenamon Road, where it is understood criminal damage was caused to three of the retail units, namely Quigley’s Bakery, Sports Saver & the Euro 2 shop, in the centre. One of the units Quigley’s Bakery was entered and a sum of money believed to be in the region of €400 was stolen. Gardaí were yesterday examining CCTV footage of the area, which shows a possible suspect leaving the area and heading in the general direction of Liberty Square in the town.
Gardaí in Thurles continue to seek information from anyone who may have noticed anything suspicious in that area at around 1.30am that morning to contact them on Tel: 0504-25100.
On the night of June 28th last, similar type criminal damage was carried out to the front of a premises in the former Stradavoher Industrial Estate. Again a lone suspect was identified smashing four windows, by CCTV cameras then operating in the estate.
Investigations by Gardaí are again ongoing and local residents are being warned to be more vigilant with regard to securing their individual property.
 Following an ongoing investigation into organised criminal activity and drug trafficking, Gardaí yesterday recovered drugs worth more than €70,000 following the search of an area in South Tipperary.
Cannabis resin, with an estimated value of around €70,000, was uncovered in a wooded location close to Carrigeen, north east of Clonmel town.
Pending analysis, a quantity of cocaine with an estimated street value of some €3,000, was also located.
It is understood that no one was arrested during yesterday afternoon’s operation and enquiries by Gardaí are continuing.
A major inter-agency operation linked to a national initiative, “Operation Fiacla,” and targeting the illegal storing and distribution of scrap metal, was carried out at a number of locations yesterday, along the Tipperary/Limerick border.
A large force of Gardaí, including members of the Armed Regional Response Unit, Customs and Revenue officers, together with officials from Limerick County Council, took part in the operation. The operation also included a number of highly-visible checkpoints, set up as part of yesterday’s day-long operation in this area.
It is understood that a considerable amount of scrap metal, motor vehicles and tyres were seized from halting sites on the Limerick /Tipperary Road & from a scrap metal yard at Spitland, Old Cork Road, outside Limerick city, using a convoy of recovery trucks which worked throughout the day.
Gardaí have also confirmed that a quantity of drugs were also found during this well planned operation & latter have now been sent for forensic analysis.
While these drugs located remain unidentified, this latter information comes on the back of a new report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). This report indicates that Ireland remains among the biggest users of Cocaine in Europe and also names and shames Ireland as a ‘hot-bed,’ for Vietnamese and Chinese organised crime gangs, who cultivate home-grown cannabis. Ireland also tops the poll for the use of newer drugs called “Legal Highs.”
The strength of the Garda National Drugs Unit, which targets gangs importing drugs into the country and distributing them, has fallen from 59 to 56, with this cut in manpower directly connected to the reduction in Garda numbers in recent years.
Members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA ) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) are to be balloted in the coming weeks on new proposals regarding pay and conditions.
It is understood that both these Garda representative bodies are cautiously welcoming the Labour Relations Commission’s new deal on premium payments and allowances, which are to remain untouched. Instead Gardaí will in return undertake 30 hours of free overtime.
This required GRA ballot could take up to six weeks to finalize, which immediately raises the question of whether the July1st deadline set down by the government for achieving necessary savings, can be now met.
The GRA’s Central Executive Committee have stated that these savings will now have a direct benefit to the State and will minimise the impact on an already stretched police service.
In April last Justice Minister Alan Shatter announced he would delay hiring more Gardaí, following the then rejection by unions of Crokepark 2, stating that without an agreement on the public-service pay deal, he would have no funds to pay for new recruitment.
The Minister had hinted earlier that he was to begin a new enrolment campaign towards the end of this year and whether this extra recruitment and funding will now emerge will be of much interest to the economy of Templemore, Thurles, which is home to the Garda Training College.
Earlier this year the General Secretary of the Association of Garda Superintendents had warned that the strength of the Garda force was at a critically low level. Superintendent Pat McCabe used the AGSI annual conference to call for Garda recruitment to begin again as soon as physically & financially possible.
Will these extra hours, if agreed, remove the need for new recruitment?
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