Garda bullying problem highlighted

Gardaí are afraid to come to work due to bullying and intimidation by management personnel, a conference heard today.

The Garda Representative Association said bullying in the force was a massive problem.

“You find people are violently sick at the thought of coming to work because they are victims of bullying. There are things like continued oppressive supervision and correction not for improvement but merely to put somebody down to lower their self-esteem,” said GRA president Dermot O’Donnell.

At the association’s annual conference in Kerry, he said one of the major reasons for the problem was the current complaints procedure for gardai who had problems with their superiors.

“There is a lack of access to any independent forum on issues of bullying and harassment and a failed grievance procedure, which no member has a scintilla of confidence in,” he said.

The GRA, which represents around 9,500 rank and file gardaí, has found that officers who make complaints are often victimised and then transferred to another station, while their superiors are left unscathed.

The conference heard that the GRA had recently received a letter from Dr Michael Corry, a consultant psychiatrist to the force with more than 20 years experience.

“As a medical doctor and psychiatrist it is saddening to sit in front of fine men and women who have had their will and spirit systematically broken down by serial, predatorial bullies,” he wrote.

Mr O’Donnell called on Justice Minister Michael McDowell to put a support structure in place for victims of bullying and to treble the number of Garda welfare officers.

On the subject of Garda discipline, he said seven members had faced trial due to their conduct during the Reclaim the Streets protests.

“The events of May 6 2002, were in a large part due to the failure of management to implement proper planning for the event. It is unfair that our members are left to shoulder the burden of blame in this case,” he said.

Mr O’Donnell said it was regrettable that the GRA had been excluded from eight of the nine working groups into the first report of the Morris Tribunal.

He said it was a cruel inequality that some gardaí who had been dismissed from the force as a result of the report had not received their pensions.

He said Judge Morris had noted that it was illogical that a garda with a short period of bad service should lose benefits gained through years of hard work.