Letters to the Editor: Legislation should benefit our gardaí

AGSI Deputy General Secretary Ronan Clogher with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee before she addressed the conference. Picture: Conor McKeown

Reports about the Garda Conference in Westport mentioned that the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) had asked for mandatory sentencing for assaulting members of An Garda Síochána. 

Justice Minister Helen McEntee refused the proposal on the grounds that an extensive review had been carried out and that the response that had come back to her was that it would be overstepping the mark in her role as minister for justice. She is right in that she doesn’t make laws, that is up to the Dáil, but she should have given the conference a bit of encouragement by saying the matter would be referred to the Dáil.