Shell to Sea concerned over Garda overtime

mayo | crime and justice | press release Monday March 02, 2009 14:17 by S2S - Shell to Sea

The fact that five Mayo Gardaí earned €325,111 in overtime payments last year, once again illustrates how the current Government thinking still seems to be, that throwing money at the Corrib Gas debacle will make it go away.

One Mayo Garda earned €80,990 in overtime last year, which was the highest of any of the Garda claims in the country. While 3 of the top 5 overtime earners in the country came from Mayo.

Only four Shell to Sea protesters have been charged so far in relation to incidents that occurred last year, however all of these charges relate to minor offences.

It has been reported recently that the overtime for detectives on murder investigations around the country has been cut. How can the overtime to police the current Corrib project, whose only real merit is that it saves Shell money, be justified?

It seems the current Government has given both the Gardaí and Shell carte-blanche to force this project through without any proper oversight or accountability.

Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway stated “It seems that the Gardaí have turned the heartfelt safety concerns of this community regarding the Corrib project into a way for themselves to claim more money. This goes someway to explaining why Gardaí have persistently tried to portray the Corrib protests as violent, when in fact no Shell to Sea supporter has been found guilty of assaulting or causing harm to any Gardaí”.

Mr Conway continued “The fact that money continues to be wasted on this project while cut-backs in resources such as special-needs facilities have been enforced is truly sickening. We would hope that the new Garda questioning of Government policy won’t be just limited to their pay-packet but will also extend to questioning Government subservience to corporate power. Corrib Gas, because of the giveaway gas deal and the corrupt and inappropriate planning has cost the taxpayer millions, instead of adding billions to the Irish Exchequer as it should if dealt with correctly.”

For verification contact:

Terence Conway
Maura Harrington

More Info:

Sunday Times - Mayo Garda overtime: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/art...9.ece

Daily Mirror – Ireland Sitting on a Fortune: http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=2046

Sunday Independent – Garda Cutbacks: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cutbacks-hit-ga....html