Gardaí oppose proposal for gun amnesty

Garda sergeants and inspectors have criticised Government proposals for a gun amnesty saying it would do nothing to reduce armed crime. They have also described as "callous" plans to relocate Mountjoy Prison to north County Dublin, saying the move will victimise disadvantaged inmates and their families.

President of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) Paschal Feeney last night told Minister for Justice Michael McDowell that his plan to take illegal firearms off the streets would not work. "We are not in favour of the proposed gun amnesty because we see it as having limited value," he said. "Hardened criminals are not likely to give up their guns as easily as that."

Mr Feeney made the comments in a speech to delegates at the opening of the association's three-day annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.

He said plans to relocate Mountjoy Prison would make it impossible for the families of inmates to visit them. Most prisoners were from disadvantaged Dublin city centre neighbourhoods. Their families "are to be made suffer" by having to travel to see their loved ones.

Mr Feeney told delegates that the Government's failure to upgrade Garda station accommodation could lead to industrial unrest. He said significant sums were being realised from selling stations at a time when the funding available for new stations was a "pittance" at €15 million. This would only be enough for "one or two district headquarters". Harcourt Terrace station, Dublin, had been sold without the knowledge of senior Garda management. The 70 members attached to the station would now be housed in Portakabins at Kevin Street station. The site of a former station at Lad Lane in the city had also been sold in a "clandestine" manner and Mountjoy station was being sold as part of the prison relocation.

Mr McDowell said he accepted more needed to be done in relation to the provision of new stations. However, he rejected suggestions that the relocation of Mountjoy was "callous", saying it would be wrong to leave prisoners in the current conditions at the existing site.