Garda associations to meet McDowell to discuss reserve

THE two garda associations engaged in a bitter row over the garda reserve are to hold meetings with Justice Minister Michael McDowell over the coming days.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) is scheduled to have talks with Mr McDowell and his officials on Friday. The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) will meet the minister next Monday.

The associations are expected to receive drafts of the regulations detailing the working of the reserve at those meetings.

The two bodies — which have a policy of non-co-operation to the reserve — will subsequently have a joint meeting at which they will discuss their strategies.

Department of Justice officials yesterday said the regulations would “more than likely” be given to the association representatives at the meetings.

The AGSI yesterday said it had asked the department last week for a copy of the regulations and that it wanted to read them before it attended the Garda Conciliation Council (GCC) next Tuesday.

“We are scheduled to see the regulations on May 23, within the ambit of the Garda Conciliation Council, which is meeting that day,” said an AGSI spokesman.

“We’ve asked to see the draft regulations before the meeting to give us a chance to prepare. So far, we have no sign of them. We think it’s only fair to study them before discussing them in conciliation council.”

He said that once they got the regulations, they would engage in discussions with the conciliation council and the Oireachtas Committee on Justice which is also to hold talks on the regulations.

The garda internal industrial relations machinery, the GRA, has not yet decided whether it will attend the GCC meeting.

GRA officials are due to meet today, at which they will discuss this and other issues relating to the reserve.