We will not work with reserve, vows GRA

DESPITE warnings from the Justice Minister Michael McDowell that they could face the sack, the country’s 9,500 rank-and-file gardaí say they will not cooperate with people joining the Reserve Force.

“Non co-operation is going to be just that. We will not work with these people. We will be polite with them, but we will we will not have anything in a duty-way to do with them,” outgoing GRA president Dermot O’Donnell said yesterday.

He added that his organisation was ready to deal with the threat that some of its members could be suspended, or even dismissed, as a result.

“We do not believe it is lawful for people to go with untrained, or badly, or poorly trained people. Our strategy is non-cooperation. We’re quite prepared to meet whatever the future holds,” he said.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) last month voted for non-cooperation with Reserve Force members, but only by a slim margin.

It is understood the GRA may use a number of different strategies to block the creation of the force.

Mr McDowell said an advertising campaign for recruitment is due to start at the end of this month. Applicants will have to be vetted and it is believed that detectives will be asked to complete that task.

Detectives from garda to inspector rank are expected to refuse.

If Mr McDowell takes gardaí to court they are likely to seek a judicial review. They are also considering an action in the European Court in relation to European law on health and safety.

The GRA says the onus is on the employer to protect the employee and members of the Reserve Force will not be properly trained, thus presenting a danger to themselves and the gardaí accompanying them.

The conference heard that only three countries in the original 15 EU member states have reserve police forces. They are Britain, the Netherlands and Germany.

John O’Connor, a former commander of the New Scotland Yard Flying Squad, told delegates at the GRA conference in Galway that the Reserve Force simply wouldn’t work.

He said the British reserve, known as the special constabulary, was always struggling to get volunteers, due to the limited nature of the tasks they preformed.

“It’s fairly routine, mundane and boring. That’s why the numbers are insignificant. I spent 30 years policing around London and I never met them,” he said.