Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Dermot Earley, has said he does not believe gardaí will seek the assistance of soldiers in policing the streets.
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea earlier said he would study any request from the Garda Commissioner to put troops on the streets to help combat gang-related crime.
However, PDFORRA spokesperson Gerry Rooney said the Army did not have enough troops even for existing work, saying he did not know where they would find the numbers to carry out police work.
Yesterday, Fine Gael suggested that the Army should be called in to deal with what it said was a 'sub-culture of vicious criminals' in Ireland. Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan claimed that 'gangsters' were living in fear of nobody
In response Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan said he would ask the Garda Commissioner if the Defence Forces should be deployed, but pointed out that the Army was not trained in policing functions.
Minister Lenihan denied that the gardaí are under-resourced for dealing with gang crime.
