Gardaí clash with Shatter over cuts

A war of words has broken out between the minister for justice and Garda representative associations over pay cuts and resourcing.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), which represents more that 2,000 members of the force’s middle management, accused Alan Shatter of “lies” for not fulfilling a promise to keep gardaí informed about the second round of station closures.

AGSI national executive member Larry Brady, speaking at the organisation’s 35th annual conference in Sligo last night, issued a veiled threat of increased garda action by referring to an incident in 1961.

A meeting was held that year in the Macushla ballroom in Dublin where members of the force “stood up to the conditions they were being forced to work in” and “were sacked for believing that they were human beings and entitled to a fair days pay, for a fair day’s work”, Mr Brady said.

He said today’s members had seen their pay packets reduced by 20%, couldn’t tolerate more cuts, and were now “at a crossroads”.

“This is about survival, survival for themselves and their families. Enough is enough. I stand here prepared to fight any more cuts to my pay packet and those of my colleagues.

“You and your Government colleagues have decided that I and my colleagues must pay for other people’s wrongdoing. This is the Ireland we live in today.

“The middle and working class people bail the rich out of the mess they made of our country. These people take no responsibility and walk around protected by the few. They have vast pensions from many sources all provided by Government and they are the untouchables of our modern Irish society,” he told Mr Shatter.

Mr Brady claimed that on Mar 29 last, the minister had promised to keep AGSI updated about further station closures. But he said the closures appeared on Twitter before his organisation were formally informed.

Mr Shatter said he thought the use of the word ‘liar’ by the AGSI was unfortunate. He criticised AGSI and the GRA, which represents rank-and-file members of the force, for “having lost their way” and not looking after their members’ interests by withdrawing from pay talks.

Mr Shatter said he intended to recruit more gardaí this year to ensure the force didn’t fall below 13,000.

The minister’s speech was greeted with silence from AGSI members. He maintained this wasn’t unusual and that previous ministers had suffered similar fates.