"Deputy Bruton is knee-high to me in terms of anything that he's ever managed to do for this country

The following is an edited transcript of Michael McDowell's remarks outside Buswell's Hotel, on Molesworth St, Dublin, around noon on Monday, 20 March. The questions interjected were by Joe Little of RTÉ.I  want to say today that this is an example of gross, abuse of public office by Richard Bruton. A gross misleading of the public, a con job on the media and grossly dishonest politics. Yes, I am saying the figures are wrong and I am going to show you now, if you'll allow me do so. Okay?
The number of gardaí which were in the Dublin Metropolitan District has hugely increased under this Government. It has not gone down as was suggested. Secondly, the numbers of gardaí who have been attached to the Dublin Metropolitan District while I have been Minister has gone up by 278.
Mr Bruton, I want to say this was at the Cabinet table with Deputy Rabbitte and Deputy Kenny when the entire size of An Garda Síochána fell over three years consistently. He is a man also who has gone on the record in public saying that families are paying more in tax now when than they were when his disastrous government was in office. He is, I believe, the Dr Goebels of propaganda and the figures that I am issuing here today prove conclusively that what he is saying is rubbish.

Q:  Minister in the past year how many uniformed Gardai were appointed in Dublin?
M.McD:  Let me talk to you, let me talk to you. The number of Gardai at the moment in Dublin is 3,794 and it has gone up consistently and I have got a PQ (Parliamentary Question) which Deputy Bruton received from me showing how it had gone up consistently under my term of office. He deliberately suppressed that, deliberately suppressed and came up with other figures which showed on the 31st December a particular variant because Gardai recruitment goes up in stages and then there are resignations.
But the facts are that he has manipulated public opinion in a disgraceful way and I am going to call on him and challenge him now very very clearly, go into the Dail and put down a motion, square up to me man to man on this issue and I will win the debate hands down. They are manipulating public opinion and their figures are false.

Q:  But can you tell us how many new uniformed gardaí were employed in Dublin in the past year?
M.McD: I can show you the figures.

Q:  How many uniformed gardaí were added to the role in Dublin last year?
M.McD: The figure now is 3,794 and it compares with, it's gone up from, wait ‘till I get you the figures now. It's gone up from 3,200 that's an additional 594 since Richard Bruton……………

Q:  In the past year, in the past year Minister?
M.McD: In the past year a considerable number of extra gardaí were attached, but the reason, it depends what date you choose.

Q:  Are they correct to say that two have been added?
M.McD: No. That's not true. That's grossly misleading. I want again to call on Deputy Bruton to publish the full facts, to publish to the Irish people the (answer to) the PQ which he got in November which showed a constant increase in the strength of the DMR, constant increase and I want to call on Deputy Bruton and Deputy Kenny to give up this sham battle and to get back to truth. I want to say that if this is what they can expect from the so-called Rainbow Government in the future, we will have a really poor General Election campaign on our hands.
I am very angry with Deputy Bruton because it isn't the first time that he's sought to manipulate figures. I am really angry with him and I think that it's about time that he got off his little, out of his ivory tower. He resembles a kind of a post-graduate student floating around that house over there and he goes now and stops using selective figures to prove a falsehood. So let's remember what the facts are in all of this.
Let's not get carried away by this bogus nonsense from a set of parties who remember have given the notion of running the Criminal Justice system in this country, man down the number of gardaí, cancel the Prison Building programme, have the revolving doors spinning as never before, get 20 per cent of prisoners out on the streets because there were no cells for them. This is the Rainbow at its very worst.
Deputy Bruton is knee-high to me in terms of anything that he's ever managed to do for this country. Does anybody remember any achievement of Deputy Bruton or Deputy Kenny when they were in office.