The resignation of Mr John Ferry after some seven years as general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) was not unexpected. Mr Ferry is resigning for health and personal reasons after recent criticism by some GRA divisions of his leadership.
Within the Garda one will find radically differing assessments of Mr Ferry's record. Some will see him as a hero, an old style confrontational figure who gave no quarter in his fight to improve the lot of his members. Others consider him a divisive figure, whose aggressive style undermined the standing of a once proud organisation, and, in the process, sullied the good name of the Garda Siochana.
Mr Ferry, in fairness, inherited something of a poisoned chalice when he gained office in 1989. His predecessor, Mr Jack Marrinan, had skillfully neutralised any internal revolt within the GRA. But when Mr Ferry took over he found an organisation riven with division between Dublin gardai, who believed that the make up of the association's executive was weighted against them, and other members. Mr Ferry's prospects were not helped when some of those, who had opposed his appointment continued to rail against his leadership.
The events of recent years, as the GRA dispute, became more embittered - leading to the formation of the breakaway Garda Federation in 1994 will long diminish the standing of the force. At a time of unprecedented concern over crime, the public was confronted with the unedifying spectacle of private security men guarding delegates at one GRA conference and a raucous, unseemly walk out at another.
Mr Ferry must bear some of the responsibility for, this unhappy condition. The continued failure to resolve the dispute, despite the intervention - over a three year period - of some astute figures in Irish industrial relations, suggests elements of inflexibility, if not obduracy. It could also be said of Mr Ferry that he fell victim to the personalised dimension of the dispute, while the bigger picture became obscured.
No one would deny Mr Ferry's right to represent his members in the most forthright manner, but there must also be times when a Garda organisation looks to the wider public good. Mr Ferry did not always show the kind of measured judgment necessary. His recent outburst when he stated that the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, did not have the ability to do her job in the midst of the political controversy over the Judge Lynch affair prompted several GRA divisions to disassociate themselves from his remarks. Last night, he said that this internal criticism was one of the factors which led to his resignation.
Given the personalised nature of the dispute, it may be that Mr Ferry's departure will provide a belated opportunity to end the debilitating conflict between the various Garda bodies. It is to be hoped that both the GRA and the Garda Federation will accept the Government's Bill to establish a single new association, which is due shortly.
In retrospect, it is clear that no one least of all Mr Ferry - has gained from the dispute. But there was a time when the GRA was a strong, much admired organisation. It was a staunch defender of its members interests but it was also an influential voice in the debate on the criminal justice system. Mr Ferry's departure should help to concentrate minds at both the GRA and the Garda Federation. It is time to climb out of the trenches.