Niall O'Connor

GARDAÍ HAVE DROPPED an internal discipline threat against a senior Garda Representative Association (GRA) official for speaking out about problems in the force.

As reported by The Journal, the garda had been informed that management were unhappy that he was speaking publicly about concerns he and other gardaí had.

The GRA Central Executive Committee member has spoken publicly on a range of topics, including a lack of pursuit driving training and the problem of enforcing scooter legislation.

The garda has been formally informed this evening that an assessment by the Internal Affairs department concluded that there was no case to answer.

Niall Hodgins, President of the GRA, launched a stinging rebuke of garda management’s attempt to stop elected representatives from raising the concerns of their members publicly. 

“While we welcome the decision that our member was found not to be in breach of regulations, and he has been fully exonerated, we must question the motivation behind this investigation.

“In the view of our Central Executive Committee, this was instigated with the sole intention of silencing our elected members from speaking on the rights, welfare and wellbeing of the members they represent.

“The GRA has a loud and powerful collective voice, and we are relieved that these allegations of wrongdoing were found to be entirely baseless,” he said. 

The issue in question is associated with an article in the Irish Times published on 14 August. The piece discussed the safety of gardaí after two members were injured when their patrol car was rammed by a stolen vehicle.

Had the case proceeded the garda could have faced sanctions that included dismissal.  

The Journal also obtained a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) dating to the 1980s between garda management, the Department of Justice and the representative bodies. 

The document lays out the relationship between the representative associations. It also states that the disciplining of a Central Executive Committee member, of any of the representative bodies, can only be done with the consent of the serving minister for justice.

The Department of Justice confirmed that it and Minister Jim O’Callaghan were not contacted about the discipline matter. 

On Wednesday evening the GRA declared it would initiate five days of industrial action over a dispute associated with pay, allowances and conditions. This would involve gardaí not taking up overtime on 6 October, budget day, and four other days including Halloween.