AGSI President Paul Curran Speech to Minister for Justice and Equality Helen McEntee T.D. Monday 8th November 2021 Great Southern Killarney, Co. Kerry
Minister, National Executive, General Secretary, Colleagues, invited guests. It is my pleasure to welcome you to Killarney to what is our first in-person meeting since October 2019 when we congregated for our Autumn Seminar. We did not know then, what lay ahead, but as expected, your responsiveness, professionalism, and commitment to policing the pandemic were beyond what was asked off you. It is fantastic to see delegates here today and I want to thank you all for coming to Killarney. After two years of being apart policing a pandemic, we are here together to tackle the many challenges ahead for you and the reform of the Garda organisation. The COVID-19 Response Firstly, I want to reflect on the COVID-19 policing response from AGSI members. We in AGSI advocated for a member of An Garda Síochána to be on the committee which advised the Government on restrictions they were going to impose. The reason we requested this was to outline the problems associated with implementing their restrictions i.e. understanding the intricacies of the law to deal with the intended restrictions, the rules and regulations associated with same and the logistical and practical nature of enforcement. The public expected us to be able to implement all the decisions of the Government, however, what followed was confusion and continued questions, often with no answers. From AGSI’s perspective, this was both disappointing and disheartening as we strived to equip members with information not provided by the Government and legislators. Unfortunately, this led to a belief that An Garda Síochána were not doing their job. It would be wrong of me not to use this opportunity to pay tribute to all members of AGSI and indeed our colleagues in An Garda Síochána who provided exceptional policing service to communities in every pocket of Ireland. Supporting elders who were cocooning, communicating new and often unclear public health restrictions to members of the public, being there for our health care colleagues when they needed us. I am sure the past 20 months will be forever in your mind and I want to publicly acknowledge the sacrifices that you and your family members had to make in order that you could continue to do your job. A new 12-hour Roster, reduced and indeed refused annual leave and working with no available PPE and staying away from vulnerable family members given the public nature of our work, were some of the many sacrifices we made and as always none of us were found wanting in a time of crisis. Extension of Retirement Age Moving now to the extension of the retirement age. I want to remind you that this matter was discussed with the YOU previously where you declared your Department was looking at extending the age. However, members are still retiring at 60 and some of those members would love to have been able to stay for longer rather than retiring and then seeking another job to make ends meet. If a reserve Garda can stay until 65 years of age, then why can’t we? Minister I hope you will address this matter directly for us, please. The Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill The Policing, Security, and Community Safety Bill is probably one of the biggest pieces of policing legislation to impact members in a very long time. This new Bill, if passed will give, we believe, extensive and far-reaching powers to GSOC which we completely disagree with. It has its genesis in the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (CoFPI) Report published in 2018. This report set out that reform and transformation of the Garda Organisation were needed and that the service must be strengthened significantly to meet existing challenges and future demands. Let me outline our case and be very clear on our dissatisfaction with the Bill. But before I do, let me be very clear, AGSI is not anti-transformation. We welcome any reform and change agenda that better serves the public and the internal efficiency of the daily workings of the Garda Organisation. However, we have a number of concerns as follows: AGSI asserts that the Bill as set out, does not provide the ‘clear vision for policing’ as envisaged by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (CoFPI) but instead creates a multi-layered, confusing and complex system of Boards and Bodies whose functions are similar but all who require independent and individual accountability, to such a degree one would question how the Garda organisation can function when different layers of oversight may have different visions for how it can effectively operate. The extended powers proposed to be granted to GSOC are without proper justification and it is our belief that these powers will encroach on the legal, constitutional, and privacy rights of members of AGSI who, as citizens as well as members of An Garda Siochana must be afforded these basic rights. The Bill fails to recognise that the CoFPI Report recommended that GSOC should be superseded by a new independent complaints body where incidents are investigated rather than individuals, to find fault where appropriate, identify what needs to be learned, and make recommendations for change as required. Instead, what the Bill has done is proposed a broad and vague number of powers that are not in line with constitutional safeguards, in our opinion, and which are designed to operate on the premise of ‘presumption of guilt’ in the first instance by an individual member. Concerning too is the complete lack of oversight for the newly proposed GSOC and whom they are accountable to when fair procedures against AGSI members are breached or when frivolous or vexatious complaints are made. There has been considerable disquiet in relation to a failure on the part of the Ombudsman in their existing guise to tackle frivolous and vexatious complaints and they have been publicly criticised in relation to a failure to bring prosecutions where complaints of this nature are made. There is no reference in the Bill to the newly established Garda Anti-Corruption Unit and where it fits into the governance, accountability, and investigative structures and it appears that members could be subject to multiple investigations by various bodies relating to the same issue. The Bill also fails to give a context or rationale for the many proposed changes but instead takes poetic licence with the CoFPI Report and uses it as a basis for changes that go beyond the recommendations contained in that Report. Supplementary Pensions On the matter of Supplementary Pensions, you will know that AGSI has been seeking to get clarity on the payment of the supplementary pension. In March of this year, you undertook to liaise with the other Ministers concerned with this matter so that AGSI can get into a meeting forum on it. Promotion Regulations Minister, we were extremely disappointed as an Association that the new promotion regulations were signed while AGSI was still in a consultative process with officials from your Department. The impact of this, is our members are dissatisfied with elements of these regulations, which as an Association we will be asking you to review. Had the consultation process finished it would have made for a better set of Regulations overall. APSFF Programme As regards the APSFF Programme, we are interested to find out from you what the impact of COVID-19 has been on the progression of the reform agenda? Are you satisfied that many of the new initiatives contained within the plan have sufficient budgets attached to them for their implementation? All around the country, we are hearing of accommodation and other issues with the Operating Police Model and we are asking you Minister if the plan is over-ambitious or achieving on target? We would ask you to respond to this in your address, please. New Garda Operations BillThe new Garda Operations Bill was published without consultation with Staff Associations. This Bill will have a massive impact on our members and once again critical decisions are being made without appropriate consultation with those responsible for the implementation of those plans. Conclusion In conclusion, AGSI believe that the drafting of legislation must be underpinned by the protection of the Constitutional rights of citizens. This Bill in its current form does not uphold those protections that must be applied equally to members of An Garda Siochana as every other citizen. The multiplicity of boards and agencies, many of whose functions are similar will cause confusion and complexities as regards who is responsible for what and what strategic vision should be followed. Overall, AGSI believes the Bill will create more difficulties than positive reform for An Garda Siochana in its current format. We appeal to you Minister to take on board our feedback and our concerns. Thank you.
