Minister for Justice Michael McDowell yesterday announced that he plans to implement next year a provision of the Garda Act which will allow for the establishment of a 1,400-strong Garda Reserve to free up officers for front-line duties.
Mr McDowell told 160 graduating gardaí at the Garda College in Templemore that he believed the time was now right to proceed with the establishment of the Garda Reserve, which would assist An Garda Síochána in the performance of its functions.
"There are many functions including assisting at major sporting events, assisting in traffic duties, managing communications and working in stations which would be performed by reserve members, freeing up members of An Garda Síochána for more front-line operational duties," said Mr McDowell.
He said that the members of the reserve will be members of the community who want to make a contribution to a safer society and could include retired gardaí or members of the public who want to give back a few hours a week to the community.
A spokeswoman for the Minister said that those who join the reserve would do so on an unpaid and voluntary basis, akin to membership of the Defence Forces Reserve.
No costings were currently available but it is expected that the start-up costs would be modest and provision would be made in next year's budget.
Questioned about the move, Mr McDowell denied that it amounted to an admission that there weren't sufficient numbers of gardaí and said that the proposal had been welcomed by all parties in Dáil Éireann.
He said that the move took account of the changes in society and the fact that many gardaí no longer lived in the communities in which they worked and he believed that the Garda Reserve would help strengthen links between the force and local communities.
"I believe that by establishing a Garda Reserve and by establishing local community roots for An Garda Síochána, the strength of the force and its linkages with the community will be enhanced rather than reduced," the Minister said.
Mr McDowell admitted that he was concerned about the latest quarterly provisional crime figures which show that the numbers of murders for the period November 2004/October 2005 (50) marked a 35.1 per cent increase on the number for the same period from November 2003/October 2004 (37).
And he also expressed concern at a 45.5 per cent increase in the number of Section 4 rapes (rape with an implement and oral rape) which rose from 55 to 80 over the same period, although rapes of females had declined by 10.8 per cent from 378 to 337 over the same period.
Manslaughter also fell, from eight to three, marking a 62.5 per cent reduction over the same period, while aggravated sexual assaults fell from 16 to seven, marking a 56.3 per cent reduction and cases of unlawful carnal knowledge fell by 15 per cent, from 107 to 91.
The provisional crime statistics also show that the number of robberies from institutions has gone up by 19.9 per cent, from 979 to 1,174, although robberies from the person had declined by 26.3 per cent, from 1,580 to 1,165 over the same period.
Assaults causing harm had dropped marginally by 3.2 per cent from 3,776 to 3,655, while the number of abductions had dropped by 6.3 per cent, from 32 to 30.
Although possession of firearms offences dropped marginally by 0.5 per cent from 392 to 390, the numbers of offences of discharging firearms illegally rose by 9 per cent from 278 to 303.
Cases of possession of drugs for sale or supply went up by 17.5 per cent from 2,113 to 2,483.
