Conor Lally
Crime Correspondent
In Westport
The largest body representing members of An Garda Síochána has welcomed what it believes is an acknowledgement from Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan that the force is short on resources.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) also described as "unprecedented" the support shown by Mr Callinan for its suggestion that a new commission be established to examine Garda pay and conditions.
Association general secretary PJ Stone told the closing session of its annual conference in Westport, Co Mayo, yesterday that Mr Callinan had listened to its members concerns and appears to understand them clearly.
"The commissioner has admitted that he doesn't have a budget," Mr Stone said. "He has now for the first time said he has difficulties finding money. His overtime budget has been curtailed. We are in a very serious place and I think it is important that the public should rally around and ensure that everybody knows the Garda Síochána has to provide the service."
He added the establishment of an independent process to examine Garda pay and allowances had worked well before – once in the 1970s and 1980s and most recently following the blue flu of 1998 – and the time was now right for another examination.
The association believes core pay has been neglected and allowances have been increased. However, with allowances being cut back across the public sector, it believes Garda take home pay is being hit harder than other sectors of the public service precisely because of what it sees as an imbalance between Garda pay and allowances.
It wants an independent commission to examine those issues and make recommendations and says the fact it is not a trade union and so cannot partake in talks on pay underlines the special case that can be made for such a commission for the Garda.
Mr Callinan on Tuesday addressed the GRA conference and said he believed there was a good opportunity at present for the establishment of an independent commission.
The association represents 11,200 rank and file gardaí in a force of 13,400. “This is not just about pay now,” Mr Stone said of what an independent commission might review. “We have seen the dismantling of the Garda Síochána brick by brick. The closing of Garda stations has, in my view, been a retrograde step. And therefore in the context of a commission we would be dealing with all areas of policing including the entitlement of An Garda Síochána to have a place to go to discuss our pay and our conditions of employment.”
However, while Mr Callinan has lent his support to the GRA’s calls for a commission to examine pay, he said he was against the association’s request for a separate and permanent policing authority that would dictate policing policy, as it did in the North and in Britain. The association says that because Government is responsible for promotions in the Garda to all ranks from superintendent and higher, there is a perception of Government control of, and interference in, policing in the Republic.
It believes an authority would address that. However, Mr Callinan said the Garda Síochána was fully independent of politics and an authority was not needed. Mr Stone said he did not agree with Mr Callinan’s view on the issue but said he believed he got a good reception at conference adding his engagement had been constructive.
At the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors conference last month, some delegates walked out when Mr Callinan began his address and did the same when Minister for Justice Alan Shatter began speaking. On Tuesday delegates did not applaud when Mr Callinan ended his address, as is customary.
However, he was given a lengthy round of applause at the end of a closed questions and answers session. Mr Shatter was not invited to the GRA conference after the association took a vote of no confidence in him in recent weeks. The decision not to invite a Minister to a GRA conference is unprecedented.
