The biggest reform project in An Garda Sióchána has hit a major obstacle after Garda superintendents have said they are refusing to take any further part in it after a row broke out about “double jobbing”.
The Association of Garda Superintendents has informed Garda management its members will not co-operate any further with the roll-out of the new “operating model” across the country until the dispute is resolved. The issue is a significant setback to the reform programme of Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, who has less than a year to run on his contract, and for Deputy Commissioner Shawna Cox, who is managing the project.
The dispute with superintendents, who are central to the reform process, is highly unusual as senior officers rarely come into serious conflict with their superiors at Garda Headquarters. It also comes at a time when the Garda Representative Association, which represents rank and file gardaí, continues to have a poor relationship with Mr Harris after its members overwhelmingly voted no confidence in him.
The operating model is effectively a new regime for policing in the Republic arising from the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. Under the model a number of Garda divisions are being merged. The objective is to bolster policing, with each enlarged division to have its own specialist teams, including for the investigation of complex crime types such as sexual offences, frauds, gangland crimes and others.
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There is currently a shortage of superintendents, and Garda management is struggling to fill posts quickly when officers retire, sometimes at short notice.
Last week the Association of Garda Sergeants & Inspectors (AGSI) took action after learning two of its members had been directed to take on the duties of another superintendent in different parts of the country. It is understood the association believes the move represents a breach of a commitment by Garda management that such double jobbing would not happen.
In one case a superintendent in charge of community engagement – day-to-day policing – for Co Longford was directed to also assume the same role for Co Roscommon. Under such an arrangement he would be the sole superintendent for a large two-county area which had four superintendents before the operating model was rolled out.
In another case a superintendent in charge of performance assurance across counties Mayo, Roscommon and Longford was also directed to take on the community engagement superintendent’s role for a part of Mayo.
AGSI believes these demands are too onerous, particularly in the much larger new divisions, and is determined to halt the practice before it becomes standard procedure. It wants inspectors to be appointed to “act up” into vacant superintendent roles until those roles are filled.
One source said the action now being undertaken by the superintendents was “not personalised”, and was in no way “aimed” at Mr Harris or Ms Coxon.
In reply to queries the superintendents’ group declined to offer any detailed comment. “As this issue is quite sensitive at the moment the Association of Garda Superintendents will not be making a comment,” it said.
Comment was also awaited from Garda Headquarters.
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