ONE of the main planks of the Government's law and order package, a review of Garda efficiency by senior civil servants, has been implicitly criticised by the Garda Commissioner, Mr Patrick Culligan.
There was also widespread criticism yesterday of the disclosures that money for the new 400 inmate prison, announced by Government, will not be available for two years and the prison will not be ready for at least four years.
The criticism coincided with a stinging rebuke of Fine Gael Ministers by party colleagues for failing in the past year to support Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, in pushing through anti crime measures. The party chairman, Mr Phil Hogan, said the Minister "has been left hanging out to dry by members of the Government, including Fine Gael".
The new prison will require Pounds 40 million in funding and Mrs Owen yesterday confirmed that planning, design and tendering procedures will take 14 to 18 months and the first Pounds 20 million, will not made be available until 1998.
The removal of the prison expenditure from the Government's anti crime package response to the murders of Ms Veronica Guerin and Det Garda Jerry McCabe, means that only Pounds 14 million of the total Pounds 54 million package will be available over the next two years.
It appeared last night that the remaining money would largely be spent on recruiting additional gardai and civilian staff to the Garda. Garda numbers have fallen and the increased recruitment will only return the force to previous levels.
It also emerged last night that the Government did not talk with Garda management before announcing its proposal that senior civil servants in the co ordinating group on the Strategic Management Initiative would "undertake a review of the efficiency and cost effectiveness" of the force.
The Garda Commissioner Mr Culligan, who retires later this month, yesterday took the unusual step of issuing a press statement saying that while he welcomed the proposed review of the force, he "would have preferred if the review was carried out by an independent international consultancy group" and not by senior civil servants with limited knowledge about policing.
Mr Culligan pointed out that the international management consultancy, Andersen, has already been engaged in a review of the force over the past two years.
He further added that "only very selected parts" of the last management consultancy review, carried out by SKC in 1978 were implemented.
A previous commitment in last year's Programme for Government to give more power to Garda management has not been met, he said.
That proposal, to make the force more responsible for its own expenditure decisions, by making the Commissioner the Accounting Officer of the Garda, "has yet to be advanced".
Other senior gardai were yesterday baffled at the Government's proposal to review the efficiency of the force, as this is almost exactly what Andersen has been doing.
Andersen was initially retained to prepare the ground for the introduction of a Pounds 28 million information technology (IT) programmed for the force which would fully integrate its backward filing and information communication systems.
From the outset the consultants insisted on the need to review the entire structure and processes of the force, senior sources pointed out, and this was readily agreed to by Garda management.
Andersen has now been retained as preferred tenderers for the computerised IT network.
Other senior officers could only conclude the Government was unaware of the review under taken by Andersen before making its announcement on Tuesday.
The Government's proposed efficiency review "smacks of scapegoating", the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) said.
The Prison Officers' Association (POA) also criticised the decision to delay funding for the new prison at Wheatfield, in west Dublin until 1998, saying the State would not now have any significant additional prison places until the next century.
Mr Ray Murphy, assistant general secretary of the POA, said the provision of additional prison places was central to the success of any crime package but the delay in funding would mean no prison places would be ready for at least four years. He said the Government must "provide the money and provide it now".
On top of the criticism of Fine Gael Ministers at yesterday's meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party for not backing Mrs Owen, there was also a highly unusual degree of criticism of Labour and Democratic Left. The junior Government partners were blamed for stalling change, particularly in relation to the bail law.
The Garda also came in for strong criticism as Fine Gael TDs urged the appointment of an outside figure to replace Mr Culligan.
Mr Hogan indicated that the parliamentary party reflected unease at what is seen as Garda ineffectiveness in the face of organised crime. They were too slow in responding to complains, had "too many hidden agendas .... and are too busy doing other things". People were also perturbed at splits in the force.