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Welcome
It is my great honour and pleasure as President of the Garda Representative Association to officially open and welcome you all to our 31st Annual Delegate Conference. I extend a céad míle failte to you all – delegates, fraternal delegates and guests.
Conference has a dual role for representatives; business and social. I ask all delegates to leave the social side to after the close of business each day. Every delegate carries the weight
of responsibility at our annual conference. We do not act for ourselves, but for those who have sent us here. I ask that you give reasoned consideration to all arguments made in the debates and use your best
judgment to decide your vote on every motion for the benefit of your members. I assure you that the Officer Board and Central Executive Committee will pursue diligently each motion passed by this conference in the
forthcoming year.
The role of a GRA elected representative is demanding at all levels; by the very structure of our Association it is necessary that members of the Central Executive Committee carry a large
share of these demands. Our representative role and our work as an operational garda has to be juggled and a balance struck with our personal lives. However, I firmly believe being an operational garda gives us
great moral authority in dealing with garda officers who have not been on the frontline in many years. It would be a great loss if we were ever to lose this dual role.
Mark Twain said “I am all for progress, it is change I object to”. Successive senior garda officers have turned that sentiment on its head; they are all for change - it seems it
is progress that they object to. Over the years there have been too many examples of this but none as obvious as the recent boundary changes. These have caused unprecedented upheaval and disruption to our members
without benefit to the people of Ireland. The garda divisions stood the test of time and while some would have benefited from minor changes, the radical changes that are being foisted on us and the public are
unnecessary and will, in my opinion, have to be reversed in many instances.
We have some significant issues to discuss and debate over the next two days. They are linked together by the effect they have on our profession. We have motions that reflect the dangerous
nature of our work and the risks our members face – and the depleting resources we have to face down these dangers. We will debate the slow progress to modernise the treatment of our members and the tools we
have to complete our tasks. We work to live; but increasingly members of all the emergency services who did not benefit from the economic boom are now being coerced to finance a broken economy. We will, through the
course of conference, debate the issue of garda pay and our campaign to protect it.
Our opposition to the public sector tax will continue. I am not ashamed to have a job. I am not ashamed to have an entitlement to a pension. I am proud of our predecessors who fought long
and hard to win us reasonable working conditions. We will protect those conditions by all means that are available to us. And we must ensure that our members are not made scapegoats for the treason of others.
The 25th February 2009 was a proud day as our Vice President and I lead upwards of 3,000 gardaí from Parnell Square to Dáil Eireann. I acknowledge the members of other garda associations who joined us that day and the members of the public who showed support for us as we marched past. I also acknowledge the members with junior service who wanted to attend the march but who were ‘persuaded’ by supervisors that it was not in their ‘best interests’ to attend.
Sadly since our last Conference a number of our colleagues have passed to their eternal reward. It is with sadness and respect we remember those who have passed from this life since
Conference 2008. May God look after them and comfort and console their families.
I thank the Standing Orders Committee for the work they have done in compiling the conference agenda. I look forward to meaningful debate and democratic policy decisions; I declare
conference open.
Michael O’Boyce
President
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