Frontline gardaí back invite to force chief

Despite a significant amount of dissent, rank-and-file gardaí have voted to invite Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan to speak at their annual conference.

However, there’s no reprieve for Alan Shatter, who becomes the first minister for justice to be denied an invitation to attend the Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference since the organisation was founded in 1978.

The GRA’s central executive committee, which represents more than 11,000 frontline gardaí, voted yesterday to invite Commissioner Callinan to the conference which will take place in Westport, Co Mayo at the end of the month.