GRA forced to defend its call for yes vote in referendum

The largest garda representative association has been forced to defend its decision to urge its members to vote yes in the same sex marriage referendum.

A number of members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) contacted the Irish Examiner to say they thought it was inappropriate for the organisation to advocate a vote in any direction.

A GRA spokesman admitted yesterday that it had received a small number of complaints from its members in relation to the stance the organisation had taken. The GRA posted the call for a yes vote on its Facebook site and a supporting editorial appeared in its official magazine Garda Review.