‘We’ve become like St Vincent de Paul’
Garda Pat O’Sullivan, chairman of the fund, said in the past two years there had been a notable increase in cases where the trust was having to bail out gardaí who had been unable to meet household expenses.
He said the trust was now helping nearly 200 gardaí a year — double the average number they had helped annually since the trust was established in 1972.
“There has been a major change in what we’re doing. We are now assisting people in dire financial straits through no fault of their own because they can’t repay their mortgages, or keep the lights and heating on. We’re paying ESB, gas bills, and other bills. We are also paying to have people reconnected if their energy supply was cut off. We’ve become like the St Vincent de Paul.”
He said the situation had become so serious that the trust had recently employed a financial expert to provide advice to gardaí who were having trouble making their mortgage repayments.
He said it was “a sad day” when rank-and-file gardaí could not pay their bills.
He said the trust was having to come to their rescue because the Government had cut their wages so much.
Yesterday, Commissioner Martin Callinan told day two of the GRA conference in Wesport, Co Mayo, that he realised the financial burdens being borne by many members of the force as it had been relayed to him on many occasions.
“Members who are in such difficulty with domestic mortgage repayments in providing a home for themselves or their family will not be subjected to the Garda Siochána discipline regulations,” he said.
“Provided there is a genuine effort to deal with these financial difficulties, there should be no need for discipline. Common sense must and will prevail.”
He said he had heard some “horrific stories” and was aware that there were members of the force who were in financial difficulty and negative equity and he was letting the Government know this.
Earlier, Garda Ultan Sherlock, a member of the GRA central executive from Stepaside, Co Dublin, said last week he was trying to help a colleague who was being threatened with having his electricity cut off.
Garda Julie-Anne Byrne, a single mother stationed in Tallaght, said she could not repay her mortgage and was relying on her elderly parents to help her out.
Garda Mary Galvin, from Bandon, Co Cork, said she knew of a colleague in West Cork in the process of handing back the keys of their house. She said another colleague, who was injured on duty, was unable to pay the €100 fee at an accident and emergency department and a debt collection firm then pursued his parents for the money.
