THE Government has agreed to buy two aircraft for the Garda. The new Garda Air Support Unit will consist of a small aeroplane and a helicopter, each of which will be able to operate at night.
Senior gardai are pleased at the decision, but disappointed that the Air Corps will be involved in the new unit.
Garda management had proposed that it run the whole unit. But the Government has decided Air Corps pilots will be used.
The Minister for Justice Mrs Owen, said yesterday she understood the Garda would have preferred its own personnel to be trained as pilots.
"In an ideal and ultimate way that may be something they would like to have, but my objective was to get a dedicated service for them," she said.
Garda management believes that while Air Corps personnel have been as co operative as possible under existing rules, they are obliged to work to an Army "culture" which focuses on following orders and discourages a change of plans in mid air.
Garda management would have preferred the "flexibility" of using personnel answerable only to Garda command.
Under the current system the Garda can seek the assistance of the Air Corps for particular operations. However, if all operational aircraft are in use when help is sought, the Garda has to wait until one becomes available.
Although Garda observers are taken on board when the aircraft is involved in a Garda operation, the aircraft remains under Air Corps command.
Under the new system the two new aircraft - as a Garda unit with Garda livery - will be based (at Baldonnel and always available for Garda operations. And while Air Corps pilots will be used, they will follow Garda instructions. However, the pilots will remain ultimately answerable to Army authorities.
The Minister said that deploying Air Corps pilots for the Garda unit was the "most effective way of providing the service" because the pilots were already trained and available. She added that the new unit should be in place next year.
The Garda plans to use it mainly in the pursuit of criminals, but also for traffic and crowd management. A technical group is to decide which aircraft should be bought. The two aircraft are expected to cost several million pounds.
Plans for a Garda air unit have been discussed since the 1970s, but the latest initiative was first revealed in the Government Estimates for 1996 when the Department of Justice was given £200,000 for a feasibility study.
The Minister said she had ensured the Garda aircraft would have 24 hour flying capability and the latest technology, including thermal imaging equipment which would be able to track a person running across a field at night.
The Alouette helicopters which the Air Corps currently uses on Garda operations cannot fly at night. Although the Air Corps Dauphin helicopters have night flying capability they are rarely available and considered expensive to run.