Conroy denies Garda has quota system for traffic fines

The Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, has said the force does not operate a quota system when raising revenue by enforcing road traffic legislation.

There had been suggestions that each Garda division operated a quota system and was required to raise a set amount of money every year. However, Mr Conroy said the aim of road traffic enforcement was to save lives.

"There is no quota. Returns, as in any aspect of organisational management, are an element in the measurement of the performance of that organisation in achieving its aims and objectives and equally, are required to inform strategy, thus ensuring that plans and initiatives formulated in any particular area of endeavour are informed, relevant and deliverable," he told the annual conference of the Garda Representative Association in Bundoran, Co Donegal.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, defended measures in the Garda Bill which will allow the arrest of civilians by those appointed to investigate wrongdoing in the force. Speaking at the conference last night Mr McDowell said if officials attached to the planned Garda Ombudsman office did not have the power to arrest members of the public, as well as gardaí, it would seriously weaken their investigative capabilities.

"It's not just a simple matter of people who happen to be in the company of gardaí being arrested. If you are investigating, for instance, a very serious allegation of misbehaviour by gardaí, the taking of a life, it would be remarkable indeed that they could only arrest members of An Garda Síochána and couldn't arrest people who they suspected were accomplices."

The GRA is concerned that the powers to be invested in the Garda Ombudsman office go too far. Mr John Healy, GRA deputy general secretary, said officials would have the power to arrest a member of the force, against whom a complaint had been made, without stating the reason for the arrest or without a warrant.

Meanwhile, Mr McDowell reiterated the Government's commitment to employ an additional 2,000 gardaí "when financial constraints permitted".