Better pay for recruits would help morale and reform in the gardaí

A government interested in morale and reform would enable the Garda Commissioner right now to abolish the bottom two points of the Haddington Road pay scale for junior gardaí, writes Fergus Finlay

THERE is a time-bomb ticking under the Government in relation to An Garda Síochána. It’s not, I’m guessing, the position of the Garda Commissioner, even though her position, from the outside at least, seems fragile. The real time- bomb is in relation to Garda pay, especially junior pay.

Perhaps we should deal with the Commissioner first. I’ve met Noirín O’Sullivan a couple of times, and I have to say she strikes me as someone who is down-to-earth and entirely approachable. She simply has never seemed to me to be the sort of person whose instinct would be to circle the wagons when the force is criticised, but instead to seek to get to the bottom of the problem. I tend to believe her when she says she has never had any interest in attacking the motivation of Garda whistle-blower Maurice McCabe, or in accusing him of malice.