Files on union bans for gardaí to be released

THE information commissioner Emily O’Reilly has ordered the Department of Justice to release documentation to a Garda representative body on why it is refusing to allow it to be affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

The exclusion of Garda groups, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) and the Garda Representative Association (GRA) from trade union recognition has been a bone of contention for a number of years and both organisations have actively sought the right to join the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

The AGSI made a request to the department on November 26, 2008 for various records concerning the minister’s refusal of permission for the association to affiliate to ICTU.

The details sought by the AGSI included various government departments’ views on affiliation.

On December 23, 2008, the department released 23 records but withheld a further 24 under a number of sections of the Freedom of the Information Act.

In the case the AGSI brought before the Information Commissioner, it questioned the justification the department had for withholding those documents.

The department argued that the records were exempt under a section which provides for the refusal of a record, “release of which could impact on the department’s functions relating to management, including industrial relations”.

In its submission it also pointed out that the documents concerned related directly to negotiations concerning the conditions of service for members of the gardaí. It said release of details of views and correspondence exchanged with other departments in relation to the issue “clearly creates severe operational and negotiating difficulties”.

It also argued that membership of ICTU was being pursued with a number of Garda associations and that the proceedings of those negotiations were confidential.

Ms O’Reilly said initial contacts with the department established that certain documents could not be released but it had been established that the refusal to grant affiliation was in the public interest.

After considering the contents of the rest and in spite of objections from the Department of Finance and the Taoiseach’s Department she said the documentation should be released.

She said her inspector had accepted that details of the departments’ analyses of the advantages and disadvantages of granting the affiliation request would be placed in the public domain for the first time and this could lead to the association seeking to re-engage with the minister in that regard.

The department has until February 4 to lodge an appeal against the commissioner’s decision.