Pay reductions see some gardaí ‘sleeping in their cars’

Rank and file gardaí say reductions in their take home pay in recent years have caused so much financial hardship that some members of the force are now sleeping in their cars.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said it was aware of cases where some of its members who worked long distances from their homes simply did not have the money to fill their car with the fuel needed to make a daily commute.

Association deputy general secretary John Healy told the GRA's annual conference in Tullow, Co Carlow, all gardaí wanted was "a living wage".

To that end, the GRA was beginning a campaign aimed at restoring pay and conditions in the period after the Haddington Road agreement.

It wants to take a full part in negotiations, which as a staff representative body rather than a union it has been denied to date.

It represents over 10,000 rank and file gardaí in a force of around 12,800 members.

Mr Healy said he was satisfied information circulating within the Garda about some members sleeping in their cars was true.

“Some gardaí cannot afford to buy or rent houses where they work. They are travelling 150 to 160 miles per day to the stations where they are based.

“And perhaps two days out of their six working they choose to sleep in their cars because they simply cannot afford to travel home and back to work again.

“They can’t afford to put diesel in their cars six days per week. They simply stay where they are; do two shifts and travel home the next day.

“It’s an indication of the cuts and the pain that we’ve had. Throughout the force, these are the kinds of pressures people are under and they simply cannot manage.”

He added the pay cuts, universal social charge and other elements of budgetary restraint that had reduced his members’ take home pay very significantly had now gone on for years.

“All people want is a living wage,” he said.

At a time when rank and file gardai were under such financial pressure, they were also required to pay the new water charge and were being attacked and “spat on” by some protestors at the anti water charge protests they were policing.

He said people shouting “peaceful protest” when trying to block the installation of water meters did not mean their protest was a peaceful one.

And aside from gardaí being targeted for intimidation at protests, they were also being put under pressure when off duty by social media campaigns, some of which were aimed at finding out their home addresses.