Fine Gael TD calls for junior minister for gardaí
Fine Gael’s Tom Barry said: “I have written to both the Taoiseach and Minister Shatter asking that a junior justice minister be appointed who could liaise with the gardaí and see what resources are needed.”
The Cork East TD said there is a junior minister for defence for the 9,500-strong Defence Forces. But there is no junior minister for justice for more than 13,200 gardaí.
“We need to listen to the concerns of the gardaí and work with them to restore morale in the organisation,” said Mr Barry.
Mr Shatter, he said, was as “an extremely good legislator but did not have the time to engage properly with gardaí”.
Mr Barry also said the four men who walked out of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) meeting during Mr Shatter’s address should never have faced a disciplinary hearing.
“It’s absolutely terrible these people were almost victimised for expressing their views. They want to do the job professionally. I’m meeting with gardaí of different ranks every day and resources is their big issue,” said Mr Barry.
Adding to the tension, the organisation representing the country’s 11,000 rank-and-file gardaí will meet on Apr 13/14 to decide whether it will take the unprecedented step of not inviting Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan to its annual conference.
Following a series of meetings by Garda Representative Association (GRA) members around the country, a proposal has been lodged with its central executive committee not to invite the commissioner.
The GRA has already told Mr Shatter he will not be welcome to attend their conference which takes place in Westport, Co Mayo, at the end of April. It is the first time in the association’s 35-year history that it refused to issue an invitation to the serving minister.
GRA president John Parker confirmed that a decision on inviting Commissioner Callinan was likely to be taken by its 31-strong central executive committee when they meet in Dublin on Apr 13/14 to finalise plans for their annual conference.
“All matters relating to conference invitations and speakers will be finalised at that meeting,” he said.
Mr Parker conceded he “couldn’t second guess” the outcome of the vote. It was possible but unlikely, he said, that a decision on inviting the commissioner could be made before those dates.
He said the GRA was waiting for feedback from the AGSI following the fallout from the conference walkout by four sergeants who said they had no confidence in the commissioner.
Mr Shatter sanctioned a disciplinary hearing for the four men at the Garda College in Templemore.
After that hearing the four sergeants, from the Carlow/ Kilkenny division, said they had full confidence in Commissioner Callinan.
AGSI general secretary John Redmond said: “There was no question of an apology being asked for or demanded or anything like that. They [the four sergeants] had always full confidence in the commissioner.”
Asked if they had confidence in the justice minister, he said: “We were in there discussing with the [assistant] commissioner the issues that brought him to the place where he was, the upset that it caused him professionally and we dealt with that and that’s what the meeting was about.”
