Conference

AGSI Will Defend Pay & Conditions - AGSI President

The primary concern of the association was to defend the pay and conditions of members, said AGSI President Aidan O'Donnell in his keynote address to the 33rd Annual Delegate Conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors held in the Strand Hotel, Limerick, on April 18th, 19th and 20th 2011.

To download the full address click here.

AGSI President Aidan O'Donnell pictured with the Mayor of Limerick, Colr Maria Byrne who performed the official opening of Conference.

The president outlined that there would be a comprehensive report from General Secretary Joe Dirwan on the pay situation and there would also be addresses by the chairmen of the executive sub-committees dealing with the various elements of the Croke Park Agreement, following each of which there would be a question and answer session.

"We remind the Minister for Justice and Equality in the strongest possible terms that our earnings have been subjected to a sustained, unprecedented and destructive attack," said the President. "We have suffered excessive reductions in our living standards and now face very real challenges in meeting financial commitments.

" I have noted the comments of Minister for Public Sector Reform Brendan Howlin and Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbite, in relation to possible further reductions in the salaries of public servants and I will remind them that we have already suffered two reductions totalling 20%, all things considered."

"As if the serious reduction in our income wasn’t bad enough, we have had to endure the unbalanced criticism of some commentators who regard dedicated workers in the public service as fair game for unfaircomment. Amongst other things we are told we should consider ourselves ‘lucky’ for being in public service employment."

"Yes, we are lucky Minister. We are lucky if we go to work and return home uninjured. We are lucky if, during the day, someone does not verbally abuse us. We are lucky if we don’t get spat at, bitten or otherwise assaulted. We are lucky if we don’t have a spurious complaint made to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, or end up subject to disciplinary investigation for some minor breach of procedure as we try to go about our work and provide a service to the public."

The criticisms of the public service were a smokescreen to distract from what really had happened to the country and those working in the service were unjustly targetted. "Our vocation [as police officers] is being well tested by growing levels of challenges, levels of complaints, increased levels of assaults and attack and increased oppressive levels of accountability and scrutiny."

Bank Scandal

Mr O'Donnell pointed out that since September 2008 and December 2010 a total of €66m has been paid out in bonuses by the Bank of Ireland, and, according to a report to the Department of Finance, did not disclose all the bonuses to its senior executive team. If a member of the Garda Siochana if any member of An Garda Síochána provided information that was ‘inaccurate’ or ‘incomplete’ or which ‘misled the Minister’ or was an ‘incomplete picture’ they would be subject to disciplinary action and face severe consequences.

"We believe this matter should be referred to an independent regulatory authority for re-examination and if there is evidence of any irregularity the matter should be re-investigated and the findings referred to the appropriate authority," said the president. "The €66m mentioned is on top of the €40m recently paid out in AIB. That’s over €100m! We want to tell the Minister and the Government that part of that €100 million would go a long way towards assisting An Garda Síochána to provide a better service to the public"

Training

"The theme for conference this year is training. Despite financial constraints, training of Garda personnel remains critical to the maintenance of an effective policing service. The selection of this theme reflects the value that our members place on the training function, which goes far beyond initial training at the Garda College. The need for continuous training in the use of defensive equipment, driver training, CPD (Continuous Professional Development), Children First guidelines, legislative and procedural training, pubic order training, firearms training and other areas, all give rise to the need for a structured continuous training process. We have carried out a properly structured survey of our members on the subject of training and have identified our training needs Minister, it is vital that sufficient funding be made available for the ongoing training of An Garda Siochana. Given the level of exposure we have to litigation, complaint and assault, we need to be fully trained and equipped to deal with all the risks that face us on a daily basis."

The president also called for:

A Garda Ombudsman to provide an independent appeals mechanism in cases of bullying, harassment and grievance
Removal of the obligation on local sergeants to 'round up' juries for coroners' courts
Provision of a panel of mental health professionals to assist gardai at barricade incidents
Improvement of the arrangements for the policing of the Codes of Practice for Appointment to positions in the Civil Service and Public Service.

Address by General Secretary Joe Dirwan and his presentation on pay