New GRA president predicts Govt climbdown on reserve

The new president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has predicted that the Government will back down on the proposed Garda reserve.

John Egan made the prediction at the association's annual two-day conference in Galway today.

The GRA has abandoned most other issues in order to concentrate on debating the proposed reserve.

Delegates at the conference are expected to comfortably pass a motion calling for non-co-operation with the part-time body.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has said the reserve is enshrined in law and gardaí will be acting illegally if they refused to co-operate.

However, outgoing GRA president Dermot O'Donnell said yesterday that no court would convict a garda in relation to the matter.

He said working with reservists would compromise the safety of full-time gardaí and all workers were entitled under health and safety legislation to refuse to put themselves in a situation where they might be at risk.

The GRA is vehemently opposed to the hiring of part-time reservists, which they believe will be used to cover up for the Government's failure to hire 2,000 extra gardaí.

They also believe the reservists will be poorly trained and will actually end up hampering the work of their full-time colleagues.