Gardaí protest at 'mad hatter' volunteer reserve

Gardaí tonight said no other profession would tolerate the “mad hatter scheme” for a volunteer reserve.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell plans to recruit around 900 volunteers into the Garda Reserve by September to carry out policing duties in the presence of uniformed gardaí.

But at a protest meeting in Cork attended by more than 1,000 members of the force, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors said it was noticeable Mr McDowell was not proposing to recruit volunteer lawyers as part of his reforms.

In a highly personalised attack, its president, Joe Dirwan, said he wondered if this had anything to do with the fact that Mr McDowell was a lawyer.

“What would happen if the Minister for Health tried to recruit volunteer doctors for instance? As a colleague of the Minister for Justice no doubt she would like to do so. But how would the doctors and consultants react to such a mad scheme? I can tell you how they would react – they would be getting their scalpels out and they would be hunting for someone’s scalp.”

He said neither the AGSI nor the the Garda Representative Association (GRA) would cooperate with the reserve.

Mr Dirwan said Mr McDowell was trying to fudge the origins of his “mad hatter idea” by pretending it was the Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy who had devised it.

“We know better. Whose idea was it in the first place – the Minister’s. Who put it in the Scheme of the Garda Siochana Bill as far back as 2003 – the Minister. Who determined that the Reserve would be volunteers – the Minister.

“Who decided that they would have full police powers – the Minister. Who determined the numbers to be recruited – the Minister.”

The Garda Reserve will carry out tasks such as station duty, foot patrols, road traffic checkpoints, community policing and major event policing in cooperation with uniformed gardaí.

But the proposal has led to the biggest clash between Mr McDowell and the garda unions since he took office four years ago. Without their cooperation, the Garda Reserve will be unworkable.

The AGSI and the GRA are holding a series of nationwide protest meetings to demonstrate their opposition but Mr McDowell has warned both unions they will be breaking the law if they refuse to cooperate.

According to a report from Garda Commissioner Conroy on the proposed reserve, its volunteer members will get 120 hours training and will be vetted like normal gardaí to ensure there is no infiltration by subversive or criminal elements.

They will be subject to the full Garda disciplinary code, will not be allowed to drive vehicles or carry firearms and will be not used to carry out policing duties in their own areas.