JUSTICE:MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern has defended his decision to reduce Garda overtime saying the "pretty excessive" expenditure could not continue at a time when the number of personnel in the force was rapidly increasing.
Fine Gael's justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan TD said "gangland criminals will be celebrating across Ireland" because the cutbacks would result in gardaí operating "with one hand tied behind their backs".
But Mr Ahern said the budget for Operation Anvil, which targets organised crime, had increased by €1 million to €21 million.
The reduction in total Garda overtime, to €80 million next year from €108 million in the current year, comes in an overall Justice bill reduced by just 2.4 per cent to €2.695 billion for next year.
Mr Ahern said he was faced with the choice of either reducing Garda overtime or scaling back on the number of new gardaí joining the force.
He had decided against the latter after talks with Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy.
Garda numbers, which were at just under 13,000 at the end of 2006, will increase to just under 15,000 by the end of next year.
Funding for the Criminal Assets Bureau has been increased by €1.5 million to €8.7 million.