Commissioner Noel Conroy has defended his role in the Garda Reserve dispute, saying the decision to introduce the part-time force was taken by the Government and not by him, reports Conor Lally in Killarney.
He was reacting to strong criticism of his leadership on the issue from Garda representative associations. He said he was disappointed the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) had voted not to co-operate with the reserve.
Asked if he had been the catalyst for the reserve, as claimed by some critics in the force, he replied: "No, no. The legislators decided that." He was speaking to reporters at AGSI's annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.
"I think we are all forgetting one thing, that this was included in the [ Garda Síochána] Bill of 2003 and it has been there since. In 2005 it was legislated for. So the reserve is not new. It just didn't happen with a letter from me or from negotiations that I had with the Department of Justice."
His comments followed recent strong criticism from the Garda Representative Association (GRA) which accused him of lacking leadership. Both the GRA and the AGSI have also suggested Mr Conroy was responsible for proposing that the reserve force should number 4,000, rather than 900 as initially envisaged.
However, Mr Conroy said he had "no choice" but to comply with the legislation.
Delegates at the AGSI conference had earlier voted by a narrow margin to adopt a policy of not co-operating with the reserve force, 900 of whom are due on the streets by September. A motion related to non-co-operation was carried by only 13 votes, much closer than anticipated.
AGSI president Paschal Feeney would not disclose the specific nature of the non-co-operation.
He said Minister for Justice Michael McDowell was anxious to learn the details so that he could "thwart" their plan.