Sir, - I hold the rank of sergeant at a Dublin Garda station. I am a member of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors. I, along with all my colleagues, am becoming more and more disillusioned with the manner in which gardai are being treated over pay and conditions.
The demands for a reasonable percentage increase, in the form of a special pay deal are in my opinion fully justifiable in the context of increases lost to us under the now infamous "Pensionability of Allowances" agreement of 1994, and the ever-widening gap between gardai and traditionally aligned groups such as prison officers and nurses.
Garda associations have, in recent years, failed to deliver to their membership and the fault can be laid fairly and squarely at the door of each member for the way we handled our internal difficulties. This let governments treat any demands from these associations with deserved contempt. It would have been a foolish government that would concede to an organisation that was so "unorganised".
But things are changing, and rapidly. I have never, in nearly 20 years' service, seen such unity among members of the force. I have never witnessed such militancy among such a conservative group of employees. Talk of industrial action is fully supported by every member of garda, sergeant and inspector rank. Members feel they are no longer going to be pawned off with second-class agreements. They are letting their respective representatives know what they want. Association leaders are in no doubt as to what is expected and demanded from them.
A debate on the right to strike is being openly called for, a move that was never envisaged in the past and a course that was recognised by many gardai as extreme and unnecessary. There is a strong lobby seeking a legal challenge to this issue, whatever the outcome of the pay dispute.
More real and immediately though, is the unanimous support for industrial action to achieve a fair settlement. The actions being planned are designed to cause maximum damage to the Government but not to alienate the public. I can thus see that the industrial action will be intense and personal and will erode completely any good will between our police force and the Government.
Personally, I don't want to see this style of trade unionism in An Garda Siochana. I don't want to see shop stewards, demarcation, go-slows, walkouts, discipline problems or any of the other trappings of a militant force. I don't want an option to strike or recourse to industrial action every time I feel entitled to something. I fear that once that level of attitude is reached, there will be no going back. "Rights" will replace traditional values of duty and dedication will be a thing of the past.
As I have stated earlier, unity in the force has never been so strong and as a consequence, I will support any action decided upon by my association, even if this will lead to a whole change in work ethos.
I ask you, through your paper, to bring it to the attention of the decision-makers that the path we are on is not to anyone's advantage. Gardai are no longer the push-over that they were. They feel they are entitled to what has been due to them for the past number of years and are prepared to go to the brink to achieve a satisfactory settlement. There can be a settlement without forcing the issue to that extreme, but the more protracted the discussions, the more militant gardai become, the more difficult a police force we will all have in the future. - Yours, etc.,
J. J. Molloy
Blackrock, Co Dublin.