Gardaí threaten to refuse to police events during Ireland's presidency of EU next year
Rank and file gardaí are threatening not to cooperate with planning for policing Ireland's six-month presidency of the European Union next year.
Members of the Garda Representative Association voted on Tuesday to direct the officers of the association not to attend any meetings with Garda management in preparation for the policing of up to 170 events to be held during the Irish presidency tenure from July 1 to December 31, 2026.
The motion outlined the action was in response to 'failures to progress issues impacting on our members, including ongoing attempts to reduce conditions of employment and the continued refusal to engage in meaningful consultation on issues critical to welfare and wellbeing'.
Among the matters requiring resolution, the motion claimed, were subsistence and travel rates, as well as 'ongoing attempts to reduce injury on duty entitlements', and 'an agreed suspension policy reflecting input and consultation with the association'.
In introducing the motion, Donegal member and former association president Brendan O'Donnell asked that Garda management 'take your foot off our throat'.
He said yet again 'our members will be asked to don the green jersey' to leave their own districts across the country to police EU presidency events but he warned the flexibility of rank and file members could not be taken for granted.
He said there were decades of experience in the room, between dealing with State events and funerals and other large-scale events.
However, members were working on subsistence and travel rates from 'years ago', he added.
He also raised concerns about the lengthy suspensions of gardaí, as well as concerns about entitlements for gardaí injured on duty.
He said while 'we are not saying that there should not be suspensions', there is a need for Garda management to look at international best practice in relation to suspension of personnel.
Sligo member Ray Wims told delegates: 'We give everything but we are being given less and less in return.' He said a female garda who was sexually harassed was being penalised by a pay cut in May, and questioned whether this was fair.
Another former GRA president, Jim Mulligan, said the visit of Joe Biden would have been a 'complete mess' only for the support of rank and file gardaí.
In a statement, An Garda Siochana said just 1% of gardaí resigned from the organisation last year, while the average international resignation rate was 10%.
There are currently 96 members of the force on suspension, with 10 relating to allegations of assault or assault causing harm, 12 in relation to domestic violence/coercive control allegations and eight for allegations relating to sexual assault/sexual misconduct. Meanwhile, a further 17 are on suspension on suspicion of driving under the influence.
It added: 'Is the GRA saying these gardaí shouldn't be suspended for such alleged serious offences?'
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