One garda a day becoming insolvent: GRA

One garda a day is becoming insolvent, others have lost their homes through bankruptcy, and many more have become so disillusioned with the job and the country that they are planning to resign or emigrate.

The knock-on effect, according to the organisation which represents the country’s 11,300 rank-and-file gardaí, is that the public will suffer because the thin blue line is becoming skeletal and more under-resourced every day.

Garda Representative Association bosses say that those worst hit financially are in the 28-34 age group.

This age group typically bought homes during the boom and simply can not afford to repay their sizeable mortgages, as some of them have seen their pay already cut by 25% and are worried that the Government will carry out its threat to take even more money from them.

“Many of our younger members are looking at emigrating or leaving the job entirely. Many are bankrupt,” said GRA assistant general secretary John Healy, as the association’s three-day conference got under way in Westport, Co Mayo, last night.

Mr Healy said 60% of the force had less than 10 years service and hundreds had expressed an interest in availing of a €30,000 tax-free career break.

“The Western Australian Police Force is currently recruiting people and I know of many gardaí who are looking at going there,” said Mr Healy. “In August, they will have face-to-face interviews for these jobs. There is also a lot of interest in the police in Canada.”

GRA president John Parker said he knew of several gardaí who were availing of family income supplement and had negotiated restructuring of their mortgages with Garda Credit Unions or other financial institutions whereby they were “paying interest-only loans”.

Mr Parker said that morale among his members was at “rock bottom” and it needed to be addressed, primarily through the creation of an independent commission which would look at pay and resources.

He said cutbacks in manpower and resources meant in some cases, through no fault of their own, gardaí were unable to solve crimes.

Today’s conference, attended by 170 delegates, will hear a number of major concerns about what frontline gardaí are facing.

The GRA will call for tougher sentencing for people who assault any members of the emergency service during the course of their duty.

Garda Robbie Stone, who is stationed in Cork City, will lead that debate, having had four teeth broken in a recent attack by juveniles who had just received a caution.

“I have a colleague who recently got his nose broken,” he said. “This is happening up and down the country and the Dáil recently voted down legislation against stiffer sentences for that type of crime.”