Gardaí to work 'under protest' for Biden's presidential visit 

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said that 64 day-long meetings over a three-year period had failed so he believed the WRC was required to find a resolution. Picture: Keith Arkins Media

Garda middle management will withdraw labour if a resolution is not found to a current dispute over Garda rosters.

However Garda sergeants and inspectors will continue to work next week during US president Joe Biden’s visit “under protest”, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) general secretary, Antoinette Cunningham said.

But cooperation during the US President’s visit was without future guarantees on cooperation on further VIP visits, she said.

She said that individual members have indicated their withdrawal of labour on a particular day if a resolution is not found and the dispute continues to escalate.

Four protest days of action are also planned to continue to highlight health, safety, and welfare concerns around the Garda Rosters issue. Speaking at the 45th annual AGSI conference in Galway, Ms Cunningham said:

We will take a day of protest action, one a month for the next four months in May, June, July, and August, and we will protest outside the Department or Dáil Eireann and outside the Commissioner's Office in Garda HQ.

Ms Cunningham said that the current roster, a four-day on, four-day off roster adopted during the covid pandemic, was unfair and was causing members stress and uncertainty.

She denied that the AGSI was militant in its demands.

“If the Commissioner gives us an internal meaningful negotiating forum we will set aside all of these days of action.

“Very firmly I’d like to reassure the public that for... the [presidential] visit next week there is no disruption to any public service. We will write to the Garda Commissioner this afternoon indicating that we will cooperate with the visit of the VIP, the president of the United States next week but under protest and without a guarantee of cooperation for future VIP visits," Ms Cunnigham said.

WRC resolution 

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said that previous internal discussions on the roster issue had failed, so he was relying on dispute resolution through the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). But Ms Cunningham said that "the only way this dispute is going to be resolved is through dialogue."

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said that 64 day-long meetings over a three-year period had failed so he believed the WRC was required to find a resolution.

“My proposal in going to the WRC is a reasonable one," he said.

“AGSI have taken a High Court action and this is currently underway and yet to be determined.

“I thought it would have been prudent and respectful to the High Court to await on the outcome of those proceedings before any announcements on the days of action."

He said that it seemed "pointless" returning to a process that had already failed.

An Garda Síochana has a responsibility to protect the people of Ireland, which includes during State visits, he said.

We are the national policing service and security service in Ireland and we have responsibilities that cannot be set aside due to industrial action and we must fulfil those.

Retention is now a major problem for gardaí, with a 345% increase in people leaving the force since 2016.

Sergeant Kevin Sexton of Castlerea said that an increased workload and more time spent sitting at a computer instead of out doing police work on the streets was contributing to the problem.

Foreign police forces, with superior working conditions, were also attracting members abroad, he said.

While some 24 members left the force in 2016, that number rose to 109 last year.

Meanwhile, a directive to gardaí on gender identity in the workplace was withdrawn by the Garda Commissioner.

AGSI had raised concerns with the internal consultation process on the directive and had looked for its formal withdrawal.

The association was concerned that the misgendering of a person could lead to discipline when gardaí had a lack of education on the topic.

“We want to support colleagues. So it’s more important to get this right rather than dropping a directive in without the appropriate information that is badly needed," Ms Cunningham said.