Irish Examiner View: Harris should focus on conciliation

It seems odd that Mr Harris is unwilling to sit face-to-face with the association to thrash out a solution to what appears to be an easily solvable issue, claiming all internal avenues have been exhausted. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Has there been something of a breakdown in communications between Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and his middle management in the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI)?

It seems that while Mr Harris and the AGSI are reading from the same hymn sheet on many issues, they are also butting heads on several others, and questions need to be asked as to why.

The commissioner’s decision to refer a contentious roster dispute to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has received a unanimous reaction from the AGSI representatives meeting yesterday at their annual conference in Galway — they’ve ramped up their protest action, announcing four more days of action between May and August.

It seems odd that Mr Harris is unwilling to sit face-to-face with the association to thrash out a solution to what appears to be an easily solvable issue, claiming all internal avenues have been exhausted. The AGSI certainly cannot seem to understand his unwillingness in this regard, and said that the decision to go to the Workplace Relations Commission was “premature”.

The body acting for middle-management gardaí and its fellow organisation the Garda Representative Association, which works on behalf of rank-and-file members, have now voted against accepting new working-time arrangements.

Both organisations have said that any actions they plan in the future — although the AGSI has said it will co-operate under protest with the visit of US president Joe Biden to this country next week — will be set aside if meaningful internal talks take place on the roster issue.

Currently, gardaí are operating under a roster system initiated during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and their representatives maintain that a proposed replacement system will trap gardaí in “unpredictable and unsuitable” working hours and an unacceptable overtime regime.

Mr Harris this week showed his willingness to adapt when he temporarily withdrew a directive on gender identity which proposed that gardaí transitioning gender be identified by their preferred identity pronouns, which had been opposed by the AGSI on the grounds of lack of training and consultation.

At a time when it has emerged that there has been a 345% increase in the number of members leaving the force since 2016, it could easily be suggested that Mr Harris and his senior managers focus on conciliation with mid-ranking and grassroots gardaí rather than confrontation.