Garda representative chief refuses to rule out industrial action during Biden visit

The head of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has refused to rule out the possibility of industrial action during next week’s visit of US president Joe Biden.

The association is locked in a dispute with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris over the introduction of a new roster system for gardaí to replace the system in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I think anything and everything at this point in time is in the hands of the delegates,” AGSI general secretary Antoinette Cunningham told the media on the first day of the association’s annual general conference in Galway.

Mr Biden is to visit Ireland next Tuesday for four days during which he will attend a number of events north and south. A massive policing operation is planned to ensure the visit passes off without incident.

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“At this point in time I can’t reassure our members on anything. I haven’t spoken to the delegates – the mandate will come to the floor,” Ms Cunningham said. “By lunchtime tomorrow I will have a very clear view of what the delegates wish to do.”

She said morale among members was low on the roster issue and that gardaí had not had a fixed pattern of work since before the pandemic. This means members’ professional lives were overlapping with their family lives and they were unable to make plans, she said. “People are tired and fatigued with bureaucratic systems.”

Ms Cunningham has accused Garda management of intransigence over the issue and of failing to adhere to the industrial relations process established for Garda dispute resolution.

Before addressing delegates, Minister for Justice Simon Harris said it was up to AGSI members to decide what action to take but that any industrial action “would be unhelpful”.

Ms Cunningham also welcomed comments from Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin regarding a mocked-up image he posted depicting gardaí overseeing an eviction during Famine times.

The image, an artwork by the visual artist Mála Spíosraí, also known as Spicebag, is a reworked painting by renowned Cork artist Daniel MacDonald (1821-1853) of an eviction taking place during the Famine.

The Sinn Féin TD posted it on Twitter with the caption: “No words needed”, drawing widespread criticism from gardaí and politicians.

Ms Cunningham said the post set gardaí “against society generally” and was “not helpful”.

She said she received a call from Mr Ó Broin on Monday “and he was very clear that he didn’t mean to offend, criticise or indeed drag An Garda Síochána into any political controversy”.

Simon Harris called it an “extraordinarily regrettable” post which attempted to compare the gardaí “to perhaps some sort of colonial force of the past”.

He said it was not for him to accept the Sinn Féin TD’s apology and that it was a matter for AGSI members. He welcomed the fact that Mr Ó Broin expressed remorse but added “imagine what he would do in government”.

Separately, Mr Harris said measures to stop people presenting at border control in Ireland with fraudulent or missing passports were bearing fruit. He said the presence of gardaí in overseas airports was helping to bring the numbers down.

Ireland welcomed people fleeing persecution, he said, but also had a “rules-based immigration system”.