Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has said the public will look at An Garda Síochána in a different light if threatened strike action by two representative groups goes ahead.
Some 10,500 rank-and- file gardaí and an estimated 2,000 sergeants and inspectors - members of the Garda Representative Association and Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi) - will refuse to work for 24 hours from 7am on the four Fridays of November.
The industrial action relates to members of the force seeking improved pay and conditions.
“I think everyone in Ireland really values the work that the gardaí do,” Mr Varadkar said.
“They are different from other public servants and civil servants. They are uniformed officers, they swear to uphold the law and that really sets them apart from other public servants and other civil servants and is among the many reasons as to why people support the gardaí and have respect for them and certainly it is my view.”
He added: “It is very much my personal view that if it is the case that the gardaí go on strike and leave communities unprotected for one Friday or multiple Fridays over the next couple of weeks, then the public won’t be able to see them the same way as they did in the past. I’d hope they would reflect on that before making a decision that can’t be stepped back from.”
Reneged
Agsi has criticised the Government for allowing the dispute to reach this point, with its president Antoinette Cunningham saying: “If Minister Varadkar wants to protect public relationships between the guards and the associations then he should be putting his energies into finding solutions and not pitching the public and guards against each other.”
She said the Government had reneged on plans to allow gardaí to negotiate their own pay as well as access to the industrial relations mechanisms of the state including the Labour Court.
“If a guard talks about strike he is committing an offence in law,” she acknowledged. “Section 59 [of the Garda Síochána Act 2005] makes it an offence. The rest of Irish society can be privileged knowing that if they go on strike, talk about strike or threaten strike action they cannot be criminally prosecuted.
“I accept that the gardaí are a different organisation but I lay the blame firmly at Government for allowing this to happen. This has been well flagged, it has been well talked about.”
Should the industrial action go ahead, just over 300 officers from the rank of superintendent and above will lead a contingency plan involving up to 2,000 Garda reservists, recruits in the Garda College in Templemore and probationers in the first months of their careers. The vast majority of this group, including almost 1,200 reservists, do not have the power of arrest.
Legal impact
Earlier, a senior barrister said the garda industrial action could lead to some court cases being struck out on grounds that sergeants will not be available to present evidence on strike dates.
Seán Gillane SC also suggested there could be legal consequences for gardaí who failed to attend court hearings to which they had been summoned.
“A witness order is a command from the court to attend on the day of trial and on any adjourned dates so I think any guard who would ignore a witness order would be on very thin ice.”
Mr Gillane said: “Garda attendance is absolutely vital to court cases. Even in a time of no industrial action, we depend largely on the flexibility and cooperation of An Garda Síochána both rank and file and guards at sergeant and inspector level.
“The threatened industrial action - and it’s important not to over state it or panic but - it certainly it has potential for very serious disruption of the running of court business,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“Guards who are giving evidence in cases would be the subject of witness orders or witness summonses so, in that sense, a guard is no different from any other citizen; that’s an order requiring a guard to attend, that will trump any industrial action.”