Senior gardaí claim chief superintendent promotions are 'biased'
Among the specific complaints that the representative body received was that Association of Garda Superintendents members, whose breadth of policing experience was not considered adequate, were not shortlisted for chief superintendent jobs. File picture
Senior gardaí have complained that the promotions system to chief superintendent is biased, does not take experience into account and is not based on merit, according to documents obtained by the .
The dissatisfaction expressed by a number of superintendents prompted their representative association to investigate whether the Policing Authority is conducting the promotions according to standard procedure.
The Association of Garda Superintendents (AGS) is also understood to have written to the Policing Authority to express its members' concerns. The issue may open up a split in the AGS as those who are promoted are unlikely to have any problem with the system as it exists.
According to internal documents from the AGS, “a number of individual complaints have been received regarding the shortlisting in the chief superintendents competition. Also there are many rumours abounding and in order for the association to consider a plan of action we need to establish the facts.”
The document, which was circulated to the 166 superintendents in the Gardaí, went on to state that there is currently a rumour that 95 people applied for promotion in a recent competition and only 35 were shortlisted for interview.
Among the specific complaints that the representative body received were that:
- Members not getting shortlisted after being deemed suitable for promotion last year
- Members whose breadth of policing experience was not considered adequate
- Members who completed the Garda Executive Leadership Programme/MBA not being considered
