Force urged to lease rather than buy vehicles

GARDA FLEET:THE GARDA force should lease vehicles for use rather than buy them, because an owned fleet is much more expensive to maintain and repair, Garda sergeants and inspectors have said.

Sgt Paul Wallace from the Donegal division told delegates at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors that a vehicle that had been in service almost six years in Donegal had recently been involved in an accident with a horse, and was being repaired at a cost of €4,000.

This cost was higher than the value of the vehicle, which would soon pass 300,000km and would need to be taken out of service.

“From a cost-benefit analysis viewpoint it does not make economic sense to spend exorbitant sums of money on major repairs for old vehicles.”

Sgt Wallace also told delegates yesterday that because the Garda owned rather than leased its fleet, when a vehicle was damaged beyond repair it was taken out of duty and no replacement was supplied in the current economic climate.

He said the Garda fleet was ageing quickly and this issue had to be addressed immediately if gardaí were to retain the standard of transport they needed to meet their obligations.

The conference heard that arising from the policy of withdrawing vehicles after 300,0000km, about 400 vehicles would be lost from the Garda fleet this year, during a period in which only 40 replacement vehicles were being bought.

Sgt Dave Burke from the Cavan-Monaghan division told delegates that Garda headquarters should analyse the current costs of retaining the fleet that was owned by the force compared to the cost of leasing vehicles.

He said it was vital that the number of vehicles made available to gardaí be maintained at current levels of about 2,600, saying they were needed to prevent and detect crime, improve road safety and prevent antisocial behaviour on the streets.

With well over half the Garda fleet made up of vehicles that had been in service between three and five years, the cost of repairs and maintenance was climbing.

The Garda transport budget for 2011 was €24.5 million, with €11.5 million of this spent on repairs.

Sgt Burke said in the Cavan-Monaghan division there were 64 vehicles available to local gardaí at the end of 2009, but by the end of last year that had fallen to 50.

In his own subdivision of Kingscourt, he and his colleagues did not have a Garda vehicle at their disposal. “You are relying on the district patrol car to help you when available. It is also affecting the morale of members as they have to nearly beg for transport to carry out their work.”