THERE HAS been no diminution in the fight against organised crime in spite of cuts to policing budgets brought about by the current economic constraints, the Minister for Justice has said.

Speaking yesterday at the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Dermot Ahern said it would have been “preferable” if a 3 per cent reduction in the budget for Garda operations this year had been avoided, but the €1.56 billion spend was “substantially” larger than two or three years ago.

“This emphatically belies repeated accusations from some quarters that the gardaí are being forced to operate with one hand tied behind their backs.”

Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan TD said the Government had repeatedly stated that frontline services would not be affected by budgetary issues, but criminals were now celebrating because severe overtime cutbacks were hampering Garda surveillance activities.

Mr Ahern said the €108 million spend on overtime last year was an “inordinate percentage” of the pay budget compared to police forces in other countries. Best practice was an 8-11 per cent spend on overtime, and he hoped the State’s bill would fall by 2 per cent to 10 per cent this year following the cutbacks.

Speaking about prisons, Mr Ahern said the numbers in custody had increased by 7 per cent over the past 12 months, which was leading to overcrowding issues, but indicated gardaí were doing a good job policing.

Labour justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte questioned Mr Ahern about the future of the Equality Authority, the budget for which fell by 43 per cent this year.

Mr Ahern said the authority had a €3.3 million budget, with which the board was confident it could fulfil its core services.