AGSI President’s Speech to Minister for Justice and Equality

AGSI President Paul CurranSpeech to Minister for Justice and Equality Helen McEntee T.D.Monday 11^th April, 2022  Minister, National Executive, General Secretary, Colleagues, invited guests. Minister McEntee, I am delighted to once again welcome you to Killarney and to your second address to the Annual Delegate Conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors.   We have 140 AGSI delegates here today, and as you are aware, conference is the supreme authority of AGSI and motions submitted by delegates direct the work of this Association for the next 12 months.Minister, the policing of COVID-19 has dominated our attention over the past two years, however, other priorities for our membership have not gone away. I want to use this opportunity to highlight what Sergeants and Inspectors have to deal with aside from keeping communities safe, investigating crime, bringing criminals in front of our courts and maintaining public trust and confidence in the Garda organisation.Six months ago, in this exact room, you commended the work of our members and the wider Garda organisation for their excellent work policing the pandemic. Minister, I must admit, our members are weary and they need actions to supersede words on a number of critical issues.Minister, we met with you on March 29^th, and during that meeting, raised a number of issues with you, which we hope you can provide clarity on today. PROMOTION REGULATIONS The Promotions Regulations for the Garda organisation were passed in 2021. Of particular interest to this Association is the area of the promotion exam. Your explicit decision to put a five-year validation on this exam is opposed by this Association.We have asked you to reconsider this decision and we set out very clearly why this was so unworkable for our members. We also asked you to give continued recognition to the promotion exam that was in existence prior to the passing of these regulations in 2021.It is unfair to simply abolish this academic qualification at the stroke of a pen as it places our members at a distinct disadvantage in their promotional opportunities.Once again, I am seeking two outcomes from you here:

1. Give recognition to the previous promotion exam and allow it to continue to hold a validity in the promotion process; and
2. Lift the five-year rule on the new proposed exam.

Minister, imagine completing an academic qualification that you invest your time, effort, sacrifice family time for, and after five years it is completely redundant? I’m not sure any other sector would stand for this, nor would I think it would even be conscionable.Minister, I implore you to reconsider this matter. EXTENSION TO THE RETIREMENT AGEMinister, the issue of the extension to the retirement age is something we have also discussed in great detail with you.For the benefits of the members here today, I ask you, on their behalf, when will the legislation to allow the extension to the retirement age pass through the House of the Oireachtas?We are losing great talent, committed members of AGSI that have more to give the Garda organisation. It is unthinkable that this matter would drag on beyond the summer recess of the Dáil and Seand.   GARDA FUNCTIONS AND OPERATIONS BILL The stated intention of the Garda Síochána (Functions and Operational Areas) Bill 2021 is to facilitate the implementation of the new operating model planned by the Garda. The Bill proposes certain amendments to legislation to facilitate the introduction of changes to the structures of the Garda organisation.Within this, comes a suite of new roles and responsibilities for Sergeants and Inspectors. It also provides for consequences in which members of An Garda Síochána are to be distributed and stationed throughout the State.This Bill is creating uncertainty for our members and they are already stretched beyond their limits. AGSI is asking you to consider the impact of this Bill as it relates to the practical implementation on the policing frontline.Consultation with AGSI and other staff Associations would shed much light on how a Bill translates into practicality and in some cases impracticality. POLICING SECURITY AND SAFETY BILL In February this year, AGSI General Secretary Antoinette Cunningham addressed the Oireachtas Justice Committee on the new Policing, Security and Safety Bill.AGSI have serious concerns with this Bill which we outlined in our submission and in our subsequent oral address to the Justice Committee.I want to share the highlights of our concern, but can also furnish you with our submission.AGSI welcome any change in An Garda Siochana. But multi-layered, complex and confused systems with many agencies whose roles are conflicting is not welcome. This Bill is vague on who accounts to who.It is unprecedented that the Garda Commissioner has reservations on the Policing, Security, and Community Safety Bill.This Bill fails to give recognition to recommendations from The Commission on Policing report which recommended that GSOC should be superseded by a new independent body.The Conduct of GSOC has in some cases been shameful as our members are left under investigation for years and years and years.What is needed is an efficient means of investigating Gardai. This Bill gives GSOC unfettered powers with no timelines for concluding investigations.In conclusion we feel the Bill in its current draft creates more problems than solutions and should be redrafted. As Minister for Justice, we believe you need to understand the serious implications of this Bill in practical terms. TRAINING AND TRAINING BUDGET  AGSI has notified Garda Management of our serious concerns in relation to the provision of domestic violence training being delivered through online methodologies only. That is completely unacceptable to the members of our Association.We believe that victim-centred training would be best carried out in-person and not exclusively online.  While COVID-19 public health regulations might have placed some restrictions on the Garda organisation, in the delivery of face-to-face training, it is incumbent on me to highlight that it is in fact years since members received in-person training on domestic violence.We are therefore seeking an intervention from you that this receives priority now that public health restrictions have been unwound. We have yet to receive clarification around planned training and so we hope you can expedite this important matter.In relation to a ring-fenced training budget, we are not clear on the prioritisation of training for our members. Some of our members haven’t received specialised training in almost a decade. So, we want to see a timetable of planned training for our members as soon as possible as a matter of urgency, and for you as Minister to ensure that training is adequately prioritised and budgeted for in An Garda Siochana. SUPPLEMENTARY PENSIONSMinister, in relation to supplementary pensions, we asked you during previous meetings to coordinate a meeting with three key government departments in order to move this issue forward.We cannot make progress until we have a meeting involving the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform, Social Protection and Justice. We would appreciate your input. We have been trying for two years and despite raising this same issue with you in November at our last conference, and again on March 29^th, and we are no further forward. CONCLUDING REMARKS  In conclusion, we appeal to you to work to move some of these critical issues forward.Our members are committed to their work. They are pro-reform, they understanding that they need to be able to respond to new directives and legislation. But equally, as Minister for Justice, you must understand the voices of Sergeants and Inspectors are central to modernising the Garda organisation.We appeal to you Minister to action the issues we have raised today and in previous fora with you.Thank you.