Christy Galligan: Vote of no confidence should be a warning shot for Government and Garda HQ

Garda rank-and-file members have voted overwhelmingly that they have no confidence in Garda Commissioner Drew Harris by a margin of 98.7%, ballots from the (GRA) revealed.

That 98.7% of 9129 frontline Gardai voted no confidence in Commissioner Drew Harris is not surprising given the discontent within the frontline ranks of An Garda Siochána.

This issue regarding rosters has escalated to such a degree that frontline members no longer have trust or confidence in this Commissioner or those in Government who back him.

No amount of photoshoots, whether in Dubai or on O'Connell Street, will assuage the fears of those frontline members who are exasperated at the hardline approach by this Commissioner and his senior garda staff over the genuine concerns of both frontline gardaí and the public they serve.

No amount of obfuscation or populist rhetoric from on high will change the belief by frontline gardaí that they are being used as cannon fodder by those in garda headquarters and in Government.

They see the attempt to bulldoze through a roster with depleted numbers of uniformed gardaí — while stripping specialist units involved in gangland crime, drugs, or community engagement — as part of the Commissioner's autocratic hardline approach to industrial relations and lack of compromise, spending time appeasing the political hierarchy.

Erosion of trust

The attempt to introduce a new policing model and the Government's much-vaunted Policing, Security and Community Bill, with increasing oversight that diminishes not only the powers of a commissioner but strangles the very essence of policing and discretion that has stood us in good stead for many decades, has increased that erosion of trust between what is now termed managers and employees.

For far too long we have succumbed to the academic managerial concept of policing.

We have allowed a business model of management to dictate our policing model, whether through data analytics, analysis, statistics, and performance monitoring, to the detriment of a community model that has stood the test of time.

We all understand that there needs to be accountability, transparency, and honesty. Like other police forces worldwide, the Garda Siochána has made many mistakes over many years.

They are not immune from change, because change in whatever line of work one is involved in is good for the whole organisation.

But when change, without consultation or agreement, is enforced on bodies like those of frontline gardaí then the balance needed to listen to those concerns has been irrevocably eroded, and the possibility of further industrial action is never far from the surface.

There are many other reasons apart from the roster why the no confidence vote is so unanimous and those have been well aired over the past number of years, yet we have a government, a minister, and a policing authority willing to sit on their well-paid thrones unable or unwilling to take decisive action or to take control of an already out of control public and industrial relations nightmare.

This vote on no confidence should be a warning shot across the bows of the Government and those in Garda HQ. Are they listening? Only time will tell.

Christy Galligan is a Retired Garda Sergeant