Strikes: ‘It should never have got to this state’

On October 1, the Irish Examiner said the Government had to act to avoid the “doomsday scenario” of frontline gardaí going on strike.

The unanimous decision by delegates of the Garda Representative Association on 28 September to hold four strike days — on the Fridays of November — was an unprecedented moment for the organisation, the Government and the country.

The day before, 95% of members who returned a ballot to the GRA said they were willing to take industrial action, up to and including withdrawal of labour.

Senior garda sources then told the Irish Examiner that only a “skeletal” service could be provided on November 4 without the 10,300-odd members of the GRA.

That was on the basis they had the 2,000-plus sergeants and inspectors.

Senior gardaí said they feared a “nightmare scenario” of the sergeants and inspectors going out on the same days.

We reported that this very proposal would feature at a special delegate conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors on October 17.

Sources within Garda HQ were said to be “animated” and there were reports that contingency plans were already being drawn up.

The consequences for vast swathes of policing— from regular police work to specialist activities — was clear to all.

So the potential crisis was well known, or should have been well known, to everyone within the apparatus of the State five weeks ago.

The GRA did have a meeting with the Tánaiste on 3 October, but everything seemed to move very slowly.

When this reporter mentioned to a Government official that the clock was ticking, it was treated as a joke.

In those first three weeks nothing much happened.

The nightmare scenario moved closer to being a reality on October 17 when AGSI delegates decided to withdraw labour on the same days in November.

“Until the AGSI voted to go out the Government seemed willing to let this ride out,” said one GRA source yesterday. “They thought they had cover with the AGSI.”

On October 17, a Garda HQ source said: “The debate so far has been around the rights and wrongs of strike action. That’s fine, but the reality is we will have effectively no gardaí on those Fridays. I don’t think the public have grasped that and politicians don’t realise the gravity of it.”

GRA had their first meeting with Department of Justice officials on October 18. The department assured the media that the gravity of the situation was fully realised. But still things moved incredibly slowly and the talks dragged on.

It was only on the bank holiday weekend that the Workplace Relations Commission was utilised, with less that a week to go. Why on earth was it all left so late?

Did the Government think that if they used the WRC and the Labour Court late in the day — with the expectation that the strike would be deferred to allow for talks — they could handle the crisis?

At an intense meeting with GRA leaders on Thursday morning, Garda management described the “catastrophe” facing the country, leading to the GRA leaders massively increasing its emergency cover.

“It should never have got to this state,” said a GRA source yesterday. “If the Government had taken this seriously three weeks ago, and made a serious offer, we’d have two weeks then to ballot and this crisis could have been avoided.”

The entire mess is a model in exactly how not to handle a crisis as serious as this.