Gardaí 'tied up in red tape' instead of being out on the beat, annual conference to hear

The annual conference of the Garda Representative Association is taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Killarney. The body represents approximately 11,000 rank and file gardaí. File Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

Rank and file gardaí will raise concerns at their annual conference that they are being hampered by paperwork instead of being out on the beat, arising as a result of the current policing model that is in place.

The annual conference of the Garda Representative Association is taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Killarney. The body represents approximately 11,000 rank and file gardaí.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has not been invited to attend for the second year in a row. The minister for justice, Jim O’Callaghan, has opted not to attend as a result.

However, the body will call on both men to conduct an “immediate review” of the current policing model and publish its findings. The motion from the association’s central executive committee says that the current model has “failed and is not fit for purpose”.

Association president Mark O’Meara said: “The current operational policing model is simply unfit for purpose, with gardaí tied up in red tape and endless bureaucracy, stuck behind desks and computer screens, instead of being out on the streets where they want to be. 

"And this is at a time of a recruitment and retention crisis, with our rank still hovering around the 14,000 mark which has remained static for over a decade. 

In this time, our population has increased by more than 15%. We simply do not have the resources to match this

Mr O’Meara added that the association submitted a manifesto to garda management and the Government “which provided solutions to recruitment and retention”.

“These were proposals, such as the training allowance being increased to €35,000 (just over €670 per week) and to immediately move gardaí to point three of the garda pay scale (€43,000), once attested. 

"We do not believe this is in any way excessive or unreasonable, but will only help in some way to match the spiralling cost of living for our members.” 

Call for training

Meanwhile, the conference will hear a call for comprehensive training of gardaí around last year’s introduction of a directive on spontaneous pursuit of suspects.

The motion will call for any such training to be in line with international best standards, saying that “without such measures, An Garda Síochána exposes its members to unacceptable professional, legal, and personal risks, while compromising public safety".

A statement from the garda press office included correspondence sent by Mr Harris to all gardaí in February, after the association's vote not to invite him to the conference.

The correspondence outlined “a range of additional measures” which have been put in place since the last association conference he attended two years ago.

He said that, as Garda Commissioner, he has publicly stated his “support for legislative acknowledgment of the particular need to deter the assault of gardaí”, and said he had “successfully petitioned for the increased penalty from seven to 12 years for an offence of assaulting a ‘peace officer’".