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IN A DRAMATIC dispute at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference the group rejected involvement in planning meetings for the EU Presidency as delegates declared a need to “teach the Irish Government a lesson”.
On day three of the seminar in Westport, Co Mayo, members were debating a motion to re-engage with planning meetings for the massive security operation.
A Special Delegate conference in Kilkenny in February had decided on the protest action in a row with garda headquarters over workplace conditions.
The measure saw the GRA withdraw from crucial meetings at which the deployment of gardaí would be decided.
It had also directed members to withdraw from overtime work during the St Patrick’s Day festival in areas outside of Dublin. A motion in Kilkenny had been passed that they did not rule out further action would be taken in the EU Presidency events.
Today delegates returned to decide on what further action they would take as no resolution has been made to their demands for an examination of discipline practices in An Garda Síochána and other conditions of service.
With the recent policing operation of the fuel protests an extraordinary event was declared and gardaí were order or in garda speak “directed” to work on their day off and leave was cancelled. Delegates argued that this would be likely to happen again in the EU Presidency.
When the motion was put forward in Westport delegate Shane Bonner from Dublin North Central called for the association to re-enage in the meetings.
“We are outside the meetings at the moment. We saw recently at the exceptional event [fuel protests policing] there’s planning going ahead. It’s affecting our members. It is going to affect their rights. When we’re not in the room, we are not engaging, we are not protecting their rights,” he said.
Other delegates Dublin based David Lestrange and Peter Firth from the South East also supported the motion with Firth saying the GRA risked their members’ workplace rights to be “rode roughshod over”.
The support for the motion changed dramatically as Conor Molloy from Donegal Division urged delegates to not support the motion. He said that the GRA had decided on action in February but that now was being reneged on.
“This motion, strategically, is going to make us look weak,” he said.
He mentioned that Ronan Slevin, General Secretary of the GRA had said he was “hitting his head off a brick wall” and that garda management and government were “not engaging with us really meaningfully”.
While some delegates said they supported the return to the planning meetings, the groundswell of support was negative and they said that they did not support the motions. The room clapped in support of those contributions.
Joe Cauley of Waterford described the Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly and Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan’s contributions at the conference were “an absolute disgrace” because of their lack of commitment to engaging with the GRA’s complaints.
“I was there in the first EU Presidency back in 1990 where we got rode for six months, but we took it, and that’s what’s going to happen again. These people don’t care about us. It’s time for us to stand up and fight back,” he said.
In a dramatic moment Cork City delegate Padraig Harrington described the policing operation for the recent visit of Keir Starmer as a “shambles” for supports such as food for gardaí.
“And it was a shambles because we weren’t in there for the organisation of it. We’re down here at conference, I don’t see any motion on the agenda that is the nuclear option. So we’re either passing this or we’re taking the nuclear option. And conference has to decide here today,” he said.
A number of other delegates blamed the Public Expenditure Department (DPER) and its minister Jack Chambers.
Cathal Doherty of Cavan/Monaghan launched an attack on Chambers and his department.
“We can’t go backward, and this is backwards. Then we need to take a stand here today, and we need to send a message to our good friend [Jim O'Callaghan] who was here last night, who has no more interest in us than the man in the moon.
“We need to send a message to him to sort out this mess. He gives us an order. He says, contact Jack Chambers.
“Jack Chambers was on the news yesterday, talking about how we need to got nearly €4bn extra last year, and he can’t give us a couple of pennies to sort out our problems?” he added.
When the vote was taken for the acceptance of the Dublin motion it was almost unanimously rejected.
The conference then was extended and the media was excluded during closed door negotiations.
After lengthy discussions the delegates decided that they would not engage with the planning meetings. The GRA will also write to Jack Chambers and inform him that the organisation is in a formal state of dispute.
Afterwards Niall Hodgins, new GRA President has said that the government treatment of the concerns of serving gardaí is not acceptable.
He added that the government must address the pay and conditions of members for travel expenses, they must implement an agreed one percent increase in pay and give the GRA a seat at the negotiating table for upcoming national pay talks.
“This is a dispute that has gone on for far too long. Minister Chambers and his Department have continuously placed us on the long finger and kicked us down the road and refused to honour already agreed positions.
“If these issues are not resolved in the coming weeks the Garda Representative Association will advise our members not to cooperate with the planning for, or the policing of, the upcoming EU Presidency and Irish Open Golf tournament.”
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