Garda strike ballot - No garda can act above law

IT IS absurd to suggest in a democracy that any people should not have a right to express their opinions by voting.

Members of An Garda Síochána have a democratic right to vote, and to try to deny that right is likely to confuse the issues at stake in the current controversy. Even if they should vote unanimously in favour of a strike, they would still not have the right to strike until the Irish people, through their elected representatives, change the law.

Gardaí are already unpopular with criminal elements of society, so they are heavily dependent on law-abiding people for necessary support. Allowing police to act above the law inevitably undermines democracy, because it establishes the foundation for a police state.

No democratic society can allow its police to act with impunity towards the law that they are supposed to enforce. The Government has stated clearly that it will enforce the Garda Síochána Act 2005, which stipulates that it is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in jail for any garda to withdraw their labour or incite any member of the force to strike.

The 12,500 gardaí would do well to remember what happened in 1981 when the overwhelming majority of the almost 17,500 air traffic controllers defied the law and went on strike in the United States. In one of his most popular acts, President Ronald Reagan issued an ultimatum giving the strikers 48 hours to return to work, and he summarily dismissed 11,345 who refused to return by the deadline. He also banned the federal government from employing those people in future.

The sacked air traffic controllers were replaced, and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organisation, the union that called the strike, was wound up. In the process the Reagan administration demonstrated clearly that it would not tolerate an illegal strike.

It is even more important that this principle should be firmly established in relation to the conduct of police. If there are those in An Garda Síochána who think they can act outside the law, it is imperative they should be disabused of this dangerous notion without delay.

As Fianna Fáil spokesman on justice during the 1997 general election campaign, John O’Donoghue promised zero tolerance towards crime, but then as minister for justice in the new government, he tolerated the so-called Blue Flu, whereby some gardaí withdrew their services by calling in sick instead of going on strike.

This time the Garda Representatives Association has been openly suggesting that it is prepared to call a strike. The Government may have to demonstrate that it means business this time.

It can be sure, however, that it will have the support of all decent, law-abiding people. Society will be better off if it clears out any and all misfits within An Garda Síochána who think that they can act above the law. There should be no room for such people in the force.