Tim Galvin, ASGI President
Dear Colleagues,
There was significant media coverage for theAssociation this month as we issued statements on the Lansdowne Road Agreement and the EuroCOP Congress which was held in Dublin Castle over three days. AGSI was also approached by various media outlets separately to discuss Garda resources and rural crime. Download our press book here, however there is further online coverage on our website.
We also launched our morale survey and I appeal to every single member to complete it. Within two days of launching the survey we had just over 200 completed responses. Click here to take it.
We look forward to our meeting with Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan which takes place on Thursday 17th December to discuss a range of operational issues. Commentary from our morale survey will also be on the agenda. We will communicate the outcome of that meeting to you in due course.
I would like to thank all members for putting their names forward for Branch Committees. In particular I would like to congratulate and welcome the new members of the Cavan Monaghan, DMR South Central, Cork City and Wexford Branches following recent elections in those regions. I must take this opportunity to thank members who may be leaving Branch Committees for their work and commitment during their time on the Branch.
Branches are preparing for the January AGM’s and Deputy General Secretary John Jacob, my National Executive member colleagues and I look forward to visiting Branches and speaking to you face-to-face.
Finally, there was a delay in getting the small diaries included in the diary pack to members, so apologies for that. Consequently the issuing of the diaries has been delayed by a week. AGSI Head Office is monitoring the situation with the publisher on a daily basis and are hopeful the diaries will be distributed on Friday next 11th December. We will advise members if the current distribution date of the 11th changes.
As always we will keep you abreast of developments on all issues and similarly we ask you to contact us if there are issues afoot affecting you or members in your Branch.
Kind Regards,
Tim Galvin
President
November Meetings
Occupational Accident and Injury; Management Policy and Procedures Meeting, 2 November, 2015
The Deputy General Secretary John Jacob and Vice-President Antoinette Cunningham met with Garda Management to consider Occupational Accident & Injury Management Policies and Procedures.
Garda Management brought forward proposals which had many good elements. However, there were some aspects of the policies and procedures that needed further discussion and greater clarity. Some of the matters that required further development include:
- Injury while travelling to and from work;
- Injuries sustained representing An Garda Síochána in sporting events;
- The timeframe for completing certificates under Code 11.37 and an appeals process where an 11.37 certificate was not issued; and
- The treatment of second absences where the initial absence was due to injury on duty.
As a result of the concerns of the AGSI and the other Associations, Garda Management took away our submissions with a view to seeing if they could be addressed in the policy. No date was fixed for a further meeting. We will keep members updated on this very important piece of work.
Meeting with Deputy Commissioner O’Cualain and National Executive 12 November, 2015
Deputy Commissioner Donal O’Cualain and Chief Supt. Aiden Glacken met with the National Executive at Phibsborough on the second day of our National Executive. They attended to brief the Association on Transformation Agenda and the policy document ‘Policing and Security with TRUST’. This meeting was rescheduled from 2 November when Garda Management were unavailable to attend due to other meeting commitments.
The following were the main points:
– programme boards to be set up;
– internal staff survey to be circulated;
– roles and responsibilities to be looked at;
– consistent and standard operating procedures;
– budgets to be ring-fenced; and
– CAD a priority.
The National Executive looked for an explanation as to how the current review being undertaken by the Inspectorate, along with transformation, would fit into this process.
The Executive also raised the issue of work overload and how members had reached capacity as far as new initiatives were concerned. We also raised the fact that the transformation office had used previous reports to develop the transformation agenda.
Promotion Advisory Council, 26 November, 2015
The number for both interview lists are not definitive at the minute. However we do know that there are in the region of 200+ vacancies for Sergeants and 51+ vacancies forInspectors.
The meeting sought approval for changes to the Sergeants‘ promotion syllabus for 2016. AGSI had already notified Garda Management that it was essential to launch the syllabus in early December as people were already studying and using the old syllabus. GardaManagement agreed that an early launch date in December was preferable. They pointed out, however, that changes for the syllabus had to be approved by the Minister. It was agreed by the Staff Associations and Garda Management that urgent approval would be sought from the Minister. It was further agreed if approval was not forthcoming on or before 15th December the old syllabus would apply for the 2016 Garda to Sergeant promotion examination.
Please watch the Garda Portal and HQ directives very closely in the coming weeks for clarification on the precise syllabus for the 2016 Garda to Sergeant promotion syllabus.
Work is underway for changes to the Sergeant to Inspector promotion syllabus. It is expected that there will be a new syllabus for the 2017 examination. The current syllabus applies for Sergeant to Inspector promotion examinations taking place in 2016.
AGSI raised the delay in commencing the promotion interviews for Sergeant to Inspector.Garda management said that work was ongoing in the background and that interviews will commence before Christmas. There will be four regional interview boards with Chief Superintendents replacing Assistant Commissioners and one final interview board with an Assistant Commissioner.
AGSI reminded the Council that there were proposals for a Roster Manager in each Division at the rank of Inspector. The current promotion competition should take the opportunity to accommodate these positions on the interview list. Other vacancies in HQ were raised but no progress was made on when movement would take place.
Meeting with Minister for Justice & Equality 2 November and Department of Public Expenditure & Reform 20 November, 2015
Members will be aware of the two meetings that took place between AGSI delegations and the Minister for Justice and DPER in November.
The Minister sought the meeting after we had rejected the Lansdowne Road Agreement. While we had matters we wanted to bring to her attention the most important and pressing issue from our members’ perspective was the rejection of the proposed agreement. We have always found the Minister welcoming and receptive. However, she did not present any solutions to the impasse. She did however arrange a meeting with the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform and is agreeable to meeting us again in the immediate future.
We will seek a meeting with her following our meeting with our Commissioner. Unfortunately our Commissioner is not able to accommodate a meeting until 17 December, this despite morale being at an all-time low and the Associations having rejected the Lansdowne Road Agreement – two very important matters of concern to her staff.
The information provided at the DPER meeting has now been circulated to all our members. It went a long way in clarifying the impact of the ‘No’ vote for our members.
AGSI must now work to ensuring that the proposed incremental freeze is not implemented to the disadvantage of our members. Most likely the whole issue of Lansdowne Road will be debated at the upcoming AGMs in January.
Branch Membership 2016 – 2019
Following recent Branch elections we include a list of full Branch memberships here: AGSI BRANCH COMMITTEES 2016-2019.
EuroCOP Congress
Delegates from the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors attended the three-day EuroCOP Congress which took place in Dublin Castle from 16-18 November. EuroCOP represents over half a million officers dealing with issues ranging from cross-border police cooperation to a safer working environment for police officers on the street.
Angeles Bosch who was a member of EuroCop Executive Committee has been elected as the new President of EuroCop. Angeles is Deputy General Secretary of Catalan Police Union, Sindicat de Policies de Catalanya. She has been with the police since 1992 and is from Barcelona.
Speaking on her election she said, “I want politicians to be committed to the police. Policeofficers risk their lives every day on the streets to protect citizens. In exchange, they should be offered adequate labour conditions, decent wages to support their families and,of course, the necessary resources to serve citizens as they deserve.”