Labour briefing:Senior Garda officers have been slow to admit to major problems within the force, and even slower to do anything about them, the Labour Party has claimed.
Proposing the creation of an independent Garda authority, Labour's Brendan Howlin said each county should have its own policing policy.
"The situation in Dublin or in other urban areas is not the same as Kerry or rural Limerick. And they should not be policed the same," said Mr Howlin.
Publishing its policing document Safe and Secure Communities, Labour said it would recruit 2,000 extra gardaí if elected.
Some 1,500 gardaí must be appointed immediately as community officers, in daily touch with a particular community.
Vandalism and other forms of anti-social behaviour were terrorising many districts. "There are still people who don't appreciate the scale of the plague," said Labour leader Pat Rabbitte.
He said that pushed to extremes such anti-social behaviour could result in death. More visible gardaí on the streets, policing areas they live in and know, would help to curb petty crime and anti-social behaviour.
"But we need more than simply increasing Garda numbers. We need a fundamental shift in approach to policing,"said Mr Rabbitte.
He said the Garda authority, fiercely opposed by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, would ensure effective use of resources.
"The situation where virtually all key decisions in regards to policing are made by just two people - the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner - is no longer appropriate, and new procedures for democratic accountability are required."
Mr Howlin rejected Mr McDowell's declaration that he, as Minister, was accountable to the Oireachtas, and that such powers should not be transferred to an independent body.
"Nobody is accountable to the Dáil for the Garda. The Minister for Justice is notionally responsible. His standard reply is that it is an operational matter for the commissioner," Mr Howlin told journalists.
The Garda authority would stand "between the commissioner and officers on the one hand, and the Minister and the Department of Justice on the other".
The proposed body would incorporate the recently-established Garda Inspectorate, though the Garda Ombudsman Commission would remain separate under the Labour plan.
On-the-street deployment of gardaí was essential. "The relationship between the Garda and many local communities is problematic and getting worse.
"Confidence in the Garda has waned, particularly among young males - the group that gardaí are most likely to encounter," according to the Labour document.
Local superintendents should be given greater authority to decide how to deploy officers in their stations, rather than having to get sanction for everything.
"Top-heavy Garda management will be streamlined, with greater responsibilities going to regional assistant commissioners to take powers into their own areas."
District judges should be appointed to handle particular parts of the capital so that they could build up knowledge of individual communities and individuals.
The number of judges should be increased, while the Circuit Court's summer vacation should be cut to eight weeks. Judges would also get binding sentencing guidelines.
