Garda roster row: McEntee trying not to flounder between a rock and a hard place

Gardaí start refusing to work voluntary overtime today

The Garda Representative Association leadership feels in a strong position given the overwhelming support their members have given them, as seen in their vote of no confidence in the commissioner. File photo: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Justice Minister Helen McEntee is caught between a rock and a hard place.

The rock is the Garda Commissioner and the hard place is the Garda Representative Association (GRA).

The minister has chosen to sail closer to the hard place, believing it’s the lesser of two evils. She knows that if she tells Drew Harris to delay re-introducing the previously agreed roster, due on November 6, she will be seen as taking the side of the GRA, as this is their demand to re-enter talks.

Moreover, the minister would be seen as undermining the commissioner. Do that and she can’t undo it. It could fracture the relationship with the commissioner and that could develop into a crisis, something Fine Gael should be eager to avoid after the Martin Callinan forced/encouraged retirement crisis.

Speaking on RTÉ at the weekend, the Minister was clear: “I will not direct the Garda Commissioner, nor will I direct members, where or when or how they should be working, because that is essentially what I would be doing in directing the commissioner to not implement a particular type of roster.” 

She said this should not be the role of the Justice Minister. The GRA is not happy, as is clear from the comments of its general secretary Ronan Slevin, and president Brendan O’Connor. Mr O’Connor told Morning Ireland that the situation was “quite bleak”.

The GRA leadership feels in a strong position given the overwhelming support their members have given them, as seen in their vote of no confidence in the commissioner. Mr Connor said dissatisfaction has been “simmering” in recent years and has "boiled over".

Justice minister Helen McEntee fracture the relationship with Garda Commissioner commissioner Drew Harris. File picture

Comments from the commissioner at the weekend that he and his team had been subject to hateful and sectarian posts on social media have angered gardaí.

Mr O'Connor said questions that their dispute with the commissioner might be because he is a Northern Protestant was an “insult”. He said the “integrity of the GRA and the motivations of the GRA” have been raised at meetings.

(For this reporter, and others who have commented on it, never has the commissioner’s religion ever featured in any public or private criticism of him by garda members.) 

So, what lies ahead?

Actions start with garda members refusing to work voluntary overtime, starting today. That will continue for a further four Tuesdays, including Budget Day and Halloween — busy days for overtime.

Two weeks ago, the ugly, far-right, scenes outside the Dáil led to demands by politicians across the spectrum that they could not be repeated, and urgent meetings were held with senior gardaí to ensure that.

Approaching November 6, we may fully enter a crisis, with the prospect of mass disobedience in a refusal to work the new roster. The GRA's 31 divisional delegates have made that decision — and they expect the association's 11,000 members will follow.

Then, on November 10, the delegates say they will “withdraw their labour”, expecting members to follow. If it gets to that stage, the clamour on the minister, and the Government, to intervene will be deafening.

Her department, through the secretary general and her officials, has structures in place with the commissioner and his team in relation to governance, including HR issues, such as industrial relations.

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The officials are supposed to be engaged in “an ongoing, robust and mutually supportive governance relationship” and can call meetings to consider “especially urgent” or serious issues. This seems like one.

The Policing Authority could decide to act, although it told the Irish Examiner it “does not have a role” in the internal management of the Gardaí or in industrial relations matters. But it does have a clear role to oversee the “arrangements for managing and deploying” Garda resources.

The authority said it does have “ongoing dialogue” with the commissioner on “resource management and efficient deployment of garda resources”.

Surely, between them, these two channels could bring cool heads and chart a middle course. In turn, it might ensure the minister, and the government, don’t flounder on either the rock or the hard place.