Madam, - While I appreciate that Kevin Myers's Irishman's Diary is an "opinion piece", the assertions conclusions in columns of January 6th and 12th are grossly inaccurate and unsupported by the facts.
Inaccuracies apart, the tone of the articles are offensive not only to the 12,000 ordinary men and women who make up An Garda Síochána, but to those who have tragically lost their lives on our roads and to their friends and families. They represent real people suffering personal loss and pain, yet the subject is treated in a most disrespectful and flippant manner.
The first of articles appears to have been based on observation by Mr Myers. On two occasions he refers to the lack of policing on the N81 from Tallaght to Baltinglass, when he states: "In fact, it is no longer policed at all. I have not seen a single garda on the entire road in the intervening 12 months"; and: "The Garda response on the N81 in the past 12 months? Non-existent. In the intervening period I have not seen one Garda checkpoint on the road. Not one."
The roadway in question stretches a total of 55 kilometres and is policed, both covertly and overtly, by a number of Garda districts and units 24 hours a day. For the year 2004, the total number of Garda checkpoints on this roadway was 462. These comprised high-visibility checkpoints; speed checks; public service vehicle/bus checks; HGV checks; and waste management checks, the latter in conjunction with South Dublin County Council.
This level of activity has resulted in a number of detections and prosecutions for road traffic related offences, including 35 drink-driving arrests; 2,795 speeding detections; 143 vehicle overweight detections; 50 vehicles impounded and 572 other summary offences, including seat-belt violations, etc. There were no road traffic fatalities on this stretch of roadway during 2004.
Mr Myers,referring to HGVs, states: "These vehicles are often hugely over-laden and are usually uncovered. Not merely is this illegal. . .but it is also dangerous"; and: "Nor is there a weigh-bridge for lorries to check on their loads".
The proof required regarding an over-laden vehicle cannot rely solely on visual observation. Rather it requires a technical proof, i.e. the weighing of the vehicle. Within 10 kilometres of the N81 there are two fixed weighbridges available and regularly utilised by An Garda Síochána. In addition, gardaí have access to, and regularly use, a mobile weighbridge. Irish law does not require loads to be covered by a tarpaulin or anything else.
Mr Myers supports his argument on the lack of Garda activity generally with official statistics. Unfortunately, he misquotes the official statistics supplied to media outlets by this office.
He refers to the Christmas drink-driving campaign and suggests that "official statistics" reveal that 567 drink driving arrests were made in the first three weeks of the campaign.
The campaign runs for six weeks, from November 29th to January 9th. In the first three weeks there were a total of 901 drink-driving arrests (291, 276 and 334 respectively).
The statistics for the entire campaign were released by this office on January 17th. They show 1,622 drink-driving arrests; 2,262 alcohol breath tests; 19,415 speeding detections and 2,818 non-wearing of seat-belt detections. During the period a total of 42 persons were killed on our roads.
Mr Myers suggests that "road deaths fall in direct proportion to visible policing". I would welcome sight of the empirical evidence on which this assertion is based. A visible policing presence can certainly contribute to safer roads, but the issue is not confined solely to policing. Many issues and agencies affect road safety, not least individual responsibility for driver behaviour.
Mr Myers, using the national road fatalities for 2004, endeavours to forecast future trends, resulting in a "nice round figure" of 500 in 2006. Road fatalities for 2004 stood at 379 deaths, an increase from 335 in 2003. While all acknowledge that this level of road deaths is unacceptably high, one cannot attempt to forecast future statistics on the basis of a two-year comparison.
The true statistics in the matter indicate that road fatalities remained in the 400s through the period from 1994 to 2001, with 1997 recording the highest at 472 deaths. Complete statistics for this period are published yearly in the Garda Annual Report and are available on the Garda website (www.garda.ie).
In Mr Myers's article of January 12th, the unsound forecast of 500 deaths in 2006 is repeated a number of times and presented almost as a foregone conclusion. This is most disingenuous.
On a more general note, the article states: "An Garda Síochána has ceased to function as an organisation with clearly defined goals and modus operandi". Since 1994, An Garda Síochána has clearly, carefully and publicly stated its strategic objectives, which are backed by annual policing plans.
All of these documents, including the latest Corporate Strategy, 2005 to 2007 and the Annual Policing Plan, 2005 are available on the Garda website. The annual policing plan is evaluated and the complete evaluation is included in the Garda Annual Report. In addition, during 2005, An Garda Síochána has committed itself to undertake 19 policy reviews with a view to improving the service we deliver to the communities we have sworn to serve.
These initiatives are in addition to the issues suggested for attention in the first report of Judge Morris.
Close to the end of the article, Mr Myers asserts "Everyone now knows that our national police force is chronically, pathologically dysfunctional. . ." This is in direct contradiction to the findings of the most recent independent Public Satisfaction Survey, which reported an 83 per cent satisfaction rating with the service provided by An Garda Síochána.
An Garda Síochána is certainly not beyond criticism, but the publication of unsubstantiated and inaccurate information is damaging and in contradiction with the facts. - Yours, etc.,
Supt KEVIN DONOHOE, Garda Press and Public Relations Officer.