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Opinion Piece by PJ Stone, General Secretary GRA
Sligo 20th February 2006
The presence of over 1000 Gardaí at the
joint GRA / AGSI meeting in Sligo on the Garda Reserve sent a strong message to this government that an Garda Síochána is not for sale.
If this present government think that we as
members of an Garda Síochána are going to be devalued or undermined as took place with decmilisation then they can think again.
Our position of non-compliance is simple. We will not work
alongside untrained people and we will not support the training process of potential Reserve candidates. We will also take a very clear position on any involvement in making inquiries as to the
suitability of candidates for the proposed Garda Reserve.
The Garda staff associations are not one bit afraid of Michael McDowell threatening us with the legal hogwash because we have chosen
to make a stand to defend the profession we have committed our lives to. We ask the Minister was anyone prosecuted or held accountable for the failure to implement the electronic voting
legislation that cost the taxpayer upwards of €60 million and still climbing? This was also enacted by Oireachtas along with a good many other pieces of legislation that have one way or
another being consigned to the constitutional dustbin.
Unfortunately, we as Gardaí have to look inwards and ask ourselves are we getting the leadership we require on this issue from the Garda
Commissioner Noel Conroy and the men and women of his senior management? If the Commissioner at the outset had the courage to say to the Minister
that this scheme would not work without the
staff associations involvement and a consultative process undertaken throughout the force. Why has the Commissioner not come out and disputed who proposed the Reserve first and say that it was the
Dept of Justice and not the Commissioner as is being reported?
Anyone can see that this is a bad idea for policing and a bad idea for the Irish people. It is a shameful position that it
is left to the Gardaí themselves to say the only ones that will suffer are those we serve and protect. It's a disgraceful situation when the Irish people can no longer trust the Cabinet
with implementing sound policies in the matter of their security? It is clear the Irish people can no longer trust them to deliver the policing service they deserve despite all their promises.
It's a shocking state of affairs that with senior experienced figures in Garda management and at the cabinet table that, we, the workers representatives, on the bottom rung are the only ones to
tell the truth and call a halt to the lunacy.
We represent people who are willing to lay down their lives to protect Irish citizens and the Minister had the cheek in a recent meeting to say
whether or not this proposal would come in over our dead bodies. The only dead bodies this will come in over are those of our murdered members and he shouldn't step over their graves to make a
political point.
We will continue to protect the principle that is an Garda Síochána and the citizens of this state and demand that it is properly run and properly funded and the Irish people
get the police force they deserve and not one that is hamstrung by shocking ineptitude at the highest levels. We will be bringing the same message to Cork next week, to Portlaoise the week after and
to Dublin after that.
But let us not underestimate the task we face for we are dealing with a Minister who is intoxicated with his own political legacy. So we might find ourselves back in Sligo,
Cork, Portlaoise and Dublin.
But we guarantee this - that if we can count on the support of our members and that of the Irish people we will not be found wanting and we will see this through to
the bitter end.
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