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GARDA COMMISSIONER MARTIN Callinan today said that up to 1,200 Gardaí were now in the “category that could go” as he went before the Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality.
The disclosure came in response to questions from Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins, who said that he had faced anger from constituents in relation to the fact that The Defence Forces had been allowed to recruit while An Garda Síochána had not.
Callinan said that he “would love to see that changing, given the lead-in time of two years before people are effective in the street”.
Despite this, he said that the force had so far “been managing to provide the service that we have always been providing.”
That said, I wouldn’t like to see the numbers drop very much beyond the 13,000 mark which is what the government have asked us to achieve.
On the topic of minimum effective numbers for the force, Callinan said that there was “no scientific model” to determine this. He believed, however, that a number needed to be maintained that would allow for the “facility to move your resources to deal with whatever issues face you at a particular time.”
With a current strength of 13,472 as of last week, Callinan said that it was clear that the maximum strength of 13,000 was not going to be achieved by year end.
When asked whether, given the two year lead time for training, this number was likely to fall below the required number, Callinan said it was difficult to determine.
Taking into account the fact that optional retirement is available to Gardaí over 50 who have 30 years service, along with compulsory retirement at 60, he said that there were now roughly 1,200 Gardaí who fell into that category “that could go, but it’s unlikely that they will”.
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I wonder will Kenny say something Important today or will he just be there to kiss Merkels ass?
As long as our gang insist that corporation tax isn’t negotiable, we may forget a debt deal. Raising this soft tax by 2 or 3% in order to have the majority of bank debt wiped out sounds like a no Brainer to me! It seems that business leaders have Kenny and co brainwashed though, so I’m not holding my breath!
Bit of luck the snivelling worm stays there.
Hopefully it was a one way ticket he bought.
All this amounts to is a photo op with the power brokers & another opportunity for Enda to delude himself into thinking that his presence there makes a difference. I’m sure their collective conscience will be eased over a nice free meal although that does not apply to Enda as his conscience walked through the exit door decades ago.
Can’t see how difficult it would be to patrol the medditeranean and stop those boats taking off in the first place. With all the satellite and military technology the eu has at it’s disposal, a few rust buckets should not be a problem to interdict or blockade.
Must be a matter of there not being the political will. Again, fear of do gooding leftists bleeding hearts. Funny how the “Europe last” brigade hold all the sway.
Hopefully the EU Council will put Kenny into childcare until his nationality is proven, he most certainly is not Irish and was probably given away by his parents after he was born. He stated himself that he was “proud to be European.”
I’ve never heard an Irish person refer to themselves as a ‘European’. So Kenny’s not a traitor after all. He is not Irish but European.
Now it all makes sense.
Wonder what the odds are that the US NSA will also be in attendance….in *spirit* if not physically
I take it there are no debates expected at this meeting. I see he is also now calling for the banking deal to be made good. I guess that means the only seismic shift Enda got was in his head and no where else.
I suppose at least our people leaving have a decent transport system to go on ,for the moment anyway
have your say