Gardaí losing expert members through ‘ridiculous’ retirement age

THE Garda Síochána is losing around 370 experienced sergeants and inspectors every year because of a ‘ridiculous’ retirement age of 57, garda representatives said yesterday.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) said there should be a common retirement age of 60 the current retirement age for senior officers.

AGSI president Paschal Feeney said Justice Minister Michael McDowell had dangled the increased retirement age as a carrot for accepting the Garda Reserve. Mr Feeney said the issues were separate.

"Relatively young, fit and experienced members are being turfed out because of this arbitrary rule," he said.

"The force is losing a vast amount of local knowledge and expertise each year."

In his address to delegates, Mr Feeney said the Minister's 'historic' budget of €1.3 billion for 2006 was still inadequate.

He said there were too many garda stations unfit for the task and patrol cars which were a danger to drivers and the public.

He said the new garda uniforms were poor quality and that gardaí had to use their own mobile phones and, sometimes, their own computers for work.

The AGSI president said the association was not in favour of the proposed gun amnesty, saying criminals were unlikely to just hand over their weapons.

He said that the association was hopeful the proposed Anti-Social Behaviour Orders would benefit society.

Mr Feeney also criticised the transfer of the Mountjoy Jail complex to north county Dublin.

"It is callous to move a prison so far out in the country as to make it almost impossible for the families, relatives and prisoners to visit early.

"Most of the inmates of Mountjoy are from the disadvantaged areas of the centre city. Now their families are to be made suffer and to be forced to trek out to north county Dublin to see their sons and daughters who may be in jail for all sorts of reasons.

"They are also victims in this situation and now they are to be victimised even further."

He called for an Ombudsman to hear internal complaints in the force, saying there was an increase of bullying complaints and the internal grievance procedure was not independent.

Mr Feeney attacked the way in which a garda station and the site of a former station were sold.

He described the sale of Harcourt Terrace Station in south Dublin as disgraceful, saying that senior gardaí had not been informed.

He said management was struggling to relocate 70 staff from Harcourt Terrace into portacabins in Kevin Street Garda Station.