Garda roster scheme ‘needs tweaking’

A senior garda who helped negotiate a new nationwide pilot rostering system in the force says “it needs tweaking” because it has not worked as effectively in rural areas as it has in large towns and cities.

Chief Supt Michael Finn said there had been “some challenges” with the new five-shift roster since it was introduced last April.

He said three factors affected the performance of the rostering system in rural areas.

The roster introduced an extra shift and has been designed to be effective in dealing with peak-time crime because two shifts overlap.

However, at off-peak times the result is there are 20% fewer gardaí on other shifts.

Chief Supt Finn said some smaller towns occasionally did not have enough gardaí on duty and had to bring in members from rural areas to fill the gap.

These gardaí had to be picked up and dropped back to rural stations by patrol cars. This, he added, was adding extra mileage to the Garda fleet and creating a further problem because patrol cars have to be taken off the road when they reach a 300,000km limit.

In addition, he said retirements were also more likely in rural areas because as gardaí married and had families they often sought transfers to more rural locations.

Therefore, manpower in these areas was reduced until vacancies were filled.

Chief Supt Finn said, on a positive note, overlapping shifts at peak times in cities and larger towns was helping gardaí to clamp down more effectively on issues such as violence and drunkenness.

He made his initial comments at a public meeting of the Co Cork joint policing committee yesterday in response to a query from Cllr Dermot Sheehan who asked if the rosters were having a negative impact in rural areas.

Several other speakers also expressed concern at the flagged closure of more rural Garda stations next year,

After the meeting Chief Supt Finn, who is in charge of policing Cork City, told the Irish Examiner that the pilot scheme was always going to need reviewing and these issues would be taken into account in order to provide the public with the best possible service.

“The national roster doesn’t suit every area. Each superintendent should have the capacity to direct when and where resources are required.”

He said further talks would take place on rostering issues between Garda management and the Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents rank-and-file members of the force, and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).

AGSI president Sergeant Willie Gleeson said “everybody acknowledges that the new rostering system is a work in progress as it is a pilot scheme”.