2 extra Gardai for Dublin in 2005

[BarryW]

On December 31st 2004 there wer 3,740 Gardai stationed in Dublin.
By December 31st 2005, that figure had risen to 3,742 - a net increase of just 2

This according to written answers given by McDowell to Parliamentary Questions last week.

And in the year that McDowell delivered 2 extra Gardai to the streets of the Capital:
· 85% of burglaries are undetected (9,226 got away scot free)
· 65% of thefts are undetected (17,006 got away with it)
· 62% of robberies are undetected (983) got away with it)
· 44% of serious assaults are undetected (659 got away with it)
· 30% of homicides are undetected (22 got away)

And all the while, we are expected to believe that an arrogant Judiciary are somehow to blame for increases in violent crime, and that open-toed sandals and Muesli have something to do with smashed windows ad the PD National Office.

Crime is spiralling out of control - and McDowell claims to be working on it 24/7.
Despite this, the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 (his own pet project) hasn't moved an inch since it finished second stage last October, and the Minister (with not a second to spare from all his crime-fighting) seems to have enough time on his hands to ring in to the Pat Kenny radio programme last week to squabble over an utterly trivial point with the Dean of Law from NUIG.

All the bluff, all the bluster. All the lies. The figures speak for themselves - as the man himself likes to remind us all the time

[St Disibod]

Ah now, the two of them are doing wonders. The Garda press office has never been so well staffed- and aren't the streets safer for it.

If it wasn't for all the farmers' markets and their muesli everything would be a-okay.

In all fairness, why would he move the Criminal Justice Bill forward. It's his all-purpose tool, a swiss army knife if you will, for tackling any criticism that he's not doing his job. He just tells us when asked about any problem that it will be addressed in the Criminal Justice Bill, then something else happens and we all forget.

[Gladstone]

So is he right in saying FG opposed manditory sentences?

[Sidewinder]

Crime is spiralling out of control - and McDowell claims to be working on it 24/7

It's called cause and effect. The harder Mickey works, the more crime we get

If this clown is "the brightest of his generation" then no wonder this country is so badly run. Time for that generation to retire, methinks.

[Maximus]

On December 31st 2004 there wer 3,740 Gardai stationed in Dublin.
By December 31st 2005, that figure had risen to 3,742 - a net increase of just 2

This according to written answers given by McDowell to Parliamentary Questions last week.

And in the year that McDowell delivered 2 extra Gardai to the streets of the Capital:
· 85% of burglaries are undetected (9,226 got away scot free)
· 65% of thefts are undetected (17,006 got away with it)
· 62% of robberies are undetected (983) got away with it)
· 44% of serious assaults are undetected (659 got away with it)
· 30% of homicides are undetected (22 got away)

And all the while, we are expected to believe that an arrogant Judiciary are somehow to blame for increases in violent crime, and that open-toed sandals and Muesli have something to do with smashed windows ad the PD National Office.

Crime is spiralling out of control - and McDowell claims to be working on it 24/7.
Despite this, the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 (his own pet project) hasn't moved an inch since it finished second stage last October, and the Minister (with not a second to spare from all his crime-fighting) seems to have enough time on his hands to ring in to the Pat Kenny radio programme last week to squabble over an utterly trivial point with the Dean of Law from NUIG.

All the bluff, all the bluster. All the lies. The figures speak for themselves - as the man himself likes to remind us all the time

So what would Fine Gael do differently re-mobilize the Blueshirts and deploy them on the streets of Dublin with sacks (you gota supply your own door knobs right)?

[BarryW]

So is he right in saying FG opposed manditory sentences?

You're forgetting that McDowell is the master of ths soundbyte, especially when it gives him the opportunity to completely distort and misrepresent his opponents (the radio piece where he faced the NUIG Professor was a textbook case - worth listening to, if anyone has access to it)

His rant in the Dáil on this was intended to give the impression that Fine Gael were somehow opposed to the idea of mandatory sentences for gun crime - even though FG has proposed it umpteen times in the last few years: Here for example

It seems that what McDowell was alluding to was that Fine Gael had opposed some mandatory sentencing provision of the Drug Trafficking Bill in 1998. (He had quit the PDs at the time and was earning zillions at the Fourcourts- so its funny that its so engrained on his memory)
Being the master of deception he would like to portray this as a blanket opposition on FG's part to all mandatory sentencing, which is of course a complete lie. Apart from the repeated calls for stricter sentences on gun crime, here's what FG proposed before the 2002 election:

- 5 year mandatory sentence for assault causing harm (which had spiralled upeards under John O' Donoghue)
- Introduction of mandatory sentences for joyriding causing death
- Mandatory 3 month sentences for cases of minor assault at District Court level.

Every penny-piece of Fine Gael's Justice proposals were OPPOSED by McDowell and the PDs at the last Election - and now he has the brass neck to suggest that FG had opposed mandatory sentences in the past.

This fool tries to re-invent the stances of his opponents to suit whichever direction he happens to be pointing on a particular day. He's even done it to party colleagues! (for example he recently claimed that he had nothing to do with the disastrous 1997 PD Manifesto, even though Harney, Liz O' Donnell and others have said it was his baby)

This been the hallmark of his taudry, opportunistic and hypocritical career. You should be well used to it by now Gladstone

[Libero]

here's what FG proposed before the 2002 election... 5 year mandatory sentence for assault causing harm...
Mandatory 3 month sentences for cases of minor assault at District Court level

Jesus Christ. That's mental.

Any decent citizen could get into a fight and go down for assault causing harm, even assault causing serious harm. All it takes is for the main witnesses to be mates of the victim and a justified claim of self-defence goes out the window. I've seen it happen.

What sort of idiot proposes removing judicial discretion in cases like that, where the judge realises that despite the conviction, it is not simply a case of "evil criminal, innocent victim" and that a lengthy custodial sentence is not appropriate?

[BarryW]

My God - is anyone listening to the News at One ??

McDowell is on it defending himself against these figures, and against Richard Bruton's attack yesterday - and it sounds absolutely pathetic.

The man's voice is trembling, and he is engaged in a stunning personalised attack against Bruton - saying he is "knee-high" to himself in terms of anything he has done for the country, and "looks like a postgraduate student wandering around that House there" (Leinster House)

Again, as I said in my first post, McDowell resorted to the old tactic of misrepresenting his opponents position.
Shouting at the media, he said that Bruton's figures were all lies (which they're not)
He siad that Bruton had claimed that Garda numbers had fallen - which is a LIE.

RTE's Joe Little asked McDowell 4 TIMES if the figure of 2 extra Gardai was wrong - and McDowell refused to answer.
Paul Reynolds contacted the Department of Justice asking if the Fine Gael figures were correct; and he couldn't get an answer.

So put two and two together.

McDowell is resorting to the tactics of Senator Joe McCarthy: When presented with the facts, ignore them and engage in mindless personalised attacks on your opponents

[rockofcashel]

My God - is anyone listening to the News at One ??

McDowell is on it defending himself against these figures, and against Richard Bruton's attack yesterday - and it sounds absolutely pathetic.

The man's voice is trembling, and he is engaged in a stunning personalised attack against Bruton - saying he is "knee-high" to himself in terms of anything he has done for the country, and "looks like a postgraduate student wandering around that House there" (Leinster House)

Again, as I said in my first post, McDowell resorted to the old tactic of misrepresenting his opponents position.
Shouting at the media, he said that Bruton's figures were all lies (which they're not)
He siad that Bruton had claimed that Garda numbers had fallen - which is a LIE.

RTE's Joe Little asked McDowell 4 TIMES if the figure of 2 extra Gardai was wrong - and McDowell refused to answer.
Paul Reynolds contacted the Department of Justice asking if the Fine Gael figures were correct; and he couldn't get an answer.

So put two and two together.

McDowell is resorting to the tactics of Senator Joe McCarthy: When presented with the facts, ignore them and engage in mindless personalised attacks on your opponents

Its funny Barry, but SF have been saying that for quite a while, and it never seemed to bother you before.

Would you agree with SF in relation to Mc Dowell now ?

[BarryW]

Its funny Barry, but SF have been saying that for quite a while, and it never seemed to bother you before.

Would you agree with SF in relation to Mc Dowell now ?

When have I EVER defended McDowell ?