Garda Commissioner has done ‘nothing’ with internal survey

The Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has done “nothing” to improve the situation for gardaí since she conducted an internal survey two years ago, the head of the force’s largest staff body has said.

Garda Representative Association president Ciaran O’Neill said the results of the survey — released under freedom of information — showed “nothing new”.

The survey, conducted by Garda Headquarters, revealed a litany of grievances:

• Promotions — members believe they only get promoted because of “who you know, not what you know”;
• Uniforms — Not practical for giving chase as too heavy and also uncomfortable;
• Training — “More training” required for operational duties, including use of pepper spray, firearms, and driving;
• Leadership — Leaders should reflect the “reality” of budget cuts and listen to members on the ground;
• Rosters — not family- friendly and “particularly disadvantage” rural areas;
• Budgets — “Not enough” gardaí and too many gardaí working in offices;
• Equipment — broken printers, no access to Pulse on many computers;
• Garda Ombudsman — GSOC has a “negative attitude” to members and view them “as guilty even before investigations begin”;
• Investigations — difficulties doing complex investigations while having to do other duties and not being adequately trained to investigate sexual crimes;
• Skills— “many members lack basic skills to perform duties” and underperformance is not being dealt with.

“There’s nothing new in it, we’ve been saying it for years,” said Mr O’Neill.

“We have been treated so badly. They don’t equip us properly, don’t train us, and don’t pay us.”

He said the commissioner conducted the survey in May 2014: “Nothing has changed. If anything, it has got worse.”

He said new recruits, starting on €23,000, now faced an increment freeze.

The survey shows an overall response rate of just 11% to 9% among gardaí to 39% above superintendent rank.

Mr O’Neill said there could be a multitude of reasons behind the low response rate, but said each garda would have to login to fill out the survey, and be “naturally suspicious”.

He said promotions had always been a big issue. He said uniforms were “not fit for purpose”.

He said the training budget came from “frontline policing” and a ringfenced budget was needed. He said new cars were “family saloon” vehicles, not equipped for pursuits.

On investigations, he said sergeants and inspectors needed to be there to “guide and supervise” gardaí.

Asked what he wanted the commissioner to do now, he said: “We want to see her backing up her members, backing proper pay openly. But the silence is deafening.”

He said she didn’t seize the opportunity at the first Policing Authority meeting as a perfect opportunity for her to “lay down a marker”. He said: “She should be saying ‘this is what I need to run the force the budget to do that’.”

A Garda spokesman said the survey was “honest, insightful, and revealing” and helped develop the Commissioner’s new modernisation and renewal programme.