Over the next three days we will share news from the AGSI 36th Annual Delegate Conference on our Blog. If you want to follow Conference on Twitter you can follow @AGSI_Ireland and #AGSI14.
RTÉ NEWS – AGSI Conference to Debate Motion on Whistleblowers
Middle-ranking gardaí based in Co Donegal are calling for the confidential reporting charter to be revised to allow for greater protection for whistleblowers.
They have also called for the establishment of an Independent Police Authority to control and regulate the force.
The motions will be debated at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors annual conference which opens today in Killarney, Co Kerry.
The conference will also hear calls for more resources for road safety and stun guns to be made available in regions with no armed response unit.
Accountability is a theme which emerges from the motions submitted to the AGSI annual conference from officers in Donegal, where policing was the subject of the Morris Tribunal.
Sergeants and inspectors there feel that under the present system there is not sufficient protection or confidentiality for those who wish to report allegations of wrongdoing.
They are seeking to have the confidential reporting charter reviewed and revised to make it protect what they describe as genuine whistleblowers.
They are also concerned about reductions in resources and manpower and point out that there are 30% fewer sergeants in the county than there were ten years ago.
They have called for the establishment of an independent police authority to control, regulate and direct the force.
Delegates in Co Mayo want statistics examined to see if there is any correlation between deaths on the roads and the depletion of traffic corps personnel.
They have called for any shortcomings to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
