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LAST UPDATE | 28 Sep 2023
GARDA COMMISSIONER DREW Harris has said gardai will be expected to comply with a roster change planned for 6 November.
It comes after rank-and-file gardai threatened to withdraw their labour if the standoff with the Garda Commissioner over the reimplementation of a pre-Covid roster system is not resolved.
At a special delegate conference of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) yesterday, rank-and-file gardaí voted to strike on 10 November.
They also intend to operate a de-facto work-to-rule by not agreeing to work overtime on Budget Day and Halloween, as well as on 3, 17, and 24 October.
The ongoing dispute centres around proposals to revise garda rosters, which has built up to a no-confidence vote by gardaí in the Commissioner.
Harris met four Garda representative associations today.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for An Garda Síochána said that this was the fourth time the Commissioner and Garda management have met all the Garda associations in the last week.
“As part of long standing efforts to get collective agreement on a new roster, the Commissioner and Garda management will meet individually with each of the Garda associations next week,” the spokesperson said.
“Throughout the three years of talks between Garda management and the Garda associations on a new roster that has involved over 60 meetings, the Commissioner has repeatedly stated that he is willing to compromise to reach agreement on a new roster,” they said.
“There have been no preconditions to talks put down by the Commissioner and Garda management.
The spokesperson noted that in July, the Garda associations and the entire organisation was “given the agreed three months’ notice that it would be returning to the Westmanstown Roster on 6 November 2023″.
“The Westmanstown Roster is the only roster currently available that was collectively agreed to by all Garda associations and Garda management,” they said.
“The Commissioner has also repeatedly stated that he and the Garda management team are available for intensive talks with the Garda associations to deliver a new roster that best meets the policing needs of the people of Ireland and gardaí. The Commissioner re-iterated that invitation again today.”
Speaking this evening, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris was asked about the GRA’s request to delay the roster change beyond 6 November 6.
Harris said: “The rationale is around visibility and service delivery. As commissioner with responsibility for an efficient and effective policing service provided and being held to account for that, I can’t wait beyond the sixth of November.”
He said the current roster is more expensive and provides “poor service” delivery.
The GRA has vowed to continue to operate the current roster system of four days on and four days off, despite the order to change it.
Commissioner Harris said: “We are a disciplined organisation. Individuals have already been informed what their duties are and they will be expected then to parade for duty on those days.”
Asked if he was proceeding with the roster change due to a concern that he could not be seen to back down, he said: “This isn’t a personal issue for me. This is a professional issue in terms of providing a policing service to people of Ireland.
“We’ve already set out the rationale for why I’ve made this decision: This is a professional policing decision in terms of how we police and provide crime prevention, detection, and also a national security service here.”
Harris added that he “completely and entirely refutes” the claim from the GRA that he had shown contempt to its members.
He also said he would not “speculate” on disciplinary measures for gardai who withdraw their labour.
“We’ll have to see what happens on that day.
“There’s no clear indication that there’s going to be a withdrawal of labour beyond those individuals who are members of the (GRA) executive stating that they intend to do so.
“So we await developments over the next couple of weeks.”
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland earlier today, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that the Commissioner has assured her there will be a “sufficient presence of gardaí on the ground” on Budget Day.
The matter is a particularly sensitive one in the wake of the aggressive anti-immigration protest outside the Dáil last week that saw TDs across the political spectrum threatened.
Drew Harris this evening said that there would be an adequate policing plan in place.
“We don’t wait till the morning of the 10th of October to see who turns in voluntarily,” said Harris.
“Individuals are detailed and properly briefed for those sorts of duties and will be notified in advance of their requirement to work.”
Speaking on Morning Ireland, McEntee described the decisions taken among gardaí on industrial action yesterday as “regrettable”.
“I think the facts are very clear here. There’s nobody, and that means the Garda Commissioner nor the Garda associations, who believes that either the current roster or the previous and incumbent roster is the right roster moving forward.”
The minister said that “we all want to negotiate a new roster that is suitable for the needs of the public today and that works for members of An Garda Siochána”.
“The only way that that can be found is through negotiation,” she said.
“There will be a meeting today between the commissioner of An Garda Siochána with the four associations and it’s absolutely imperative that all four associations including the GRA are around the table for that discussion.”
During the meeting earlier today with Garda representatives, Harris asked for the position of garda representative bodies on the question of escalating the dispute resolution to the Workplace Resolutions Committee.
There was some disagreement between the representative bodies on how far they want to escalate the matter.
The Journal understands that the GRA wants to continue to have group discussions and told the Commissioner it is prepared to “actively engage with discussions” if a deadline of 6 November for introducing the contentious roster is halted.
Harris said there will be bilateral meetings next week between him and the individual representative bodies.
Additional reporting by Press Association and Niall O’Connor
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The biggest ‘sh##show’ imaginable. I point the finger fairly and squarely at Simple Simon Harris. The cost is truly astonishing followed closely by incompetence on a stratospheric level. Let us not forget the poor kiddies that are being deprived of the care they deserve, all because of a government run by gimps.
@Andrew Kenny: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/reilly-insists-st-james-s-best-site-for-650m-children-s-hospital-1.1858282
@Padraic O’ Sullivan: Ah yes, Dr Reilly, should be called Little Jack Horner, as he had his thumb in many pies!
@Padraic O’ Sullivan: I’ve never understood why this wasn’t built at the Connolly hospital site in Blanchardstown. An absolute and enduring fiasco from start to eventual finish.
@honey badger: from what I heard it was because the consultants (probably some that signed this letter) wouldn’t move there, I wouldn’t take that as gospel though.
@honey badger: It would have been ideal, on the M50, readily accessible from anywhere, but no, vested interests take precedence!
@honey badger: or maybe in the midlands where it’s central to the whole country
@The next small thing: I have family in there and heard Southside consultants had the final say on it. Made to suit the Blackrock brigade a F the rest of us as per usual. No real surprises there to be honest.
@Andrew Kenny: FG gave the green light to proceed construction in the heart of Dublin City, we all know it should have been built in Blanchardstown, heavy traffic has always been a problem in this part of the city and now it’s going to be much heavier and will cause longer delays for everyone trying to negotiate traffic especially for people living in the area and commuters heading west towards Palmerstown, Lucan, Leixlip, Cellbridge.
@Adam H2022: anyone who thinks medical consultants had ANY say in where hospitals are located has no understanding of how the health system in Ireland works. All decisions like this are made by the department of health and politicians
No need to worry gang… it will be at least another year before this is open..no need to panic
@David Cotter: a complete joke
@Chutes Idiot: you’re optimistic… Wasn’t that hospital moved to a “2030 Project” some days after the November elections? I wish I were wrong though
Great breakdown on the fiasco here:
Shows this disaster is now well known around the World. I’ve also heard Bam might ask for another €853 million, pushing the total cost well past €3 billion.
@David Jordan: This is what happens when Student Union activists are running the government, like getting children to operate a nuclear reactor!
Well of course there’s going to be staff shortages. They’ve built a building. They haven’t built any kind of medical system that anyone in there right mind would want to work in. How any of the staff turn up for work everyday is beyond me. I mean frontline staff that are being ran into the ground day in day out. Having a recruitment embargo on irish nurses whole recruiting them from abroad is just a slap in the face to any junior nurse that was going to enter the system. If they have any sense they will be long gone and god bless them in there lives. The NCH was a ego project for fg.
Exactly where are the staff to treat the kiddies commung from .there is a lack of nurses and Dr’s as it is in ireland due to the extra long hours and awfull pay
@Karen Marten: “awful pay” Doctors!
@Michael Reilly: there are a thousand vacancies for consultants. They won’t return to Ireland while the conditions are so appalling. What has the minister for health to say about all this?
In another 2 years the hospital still won’t be open but the sick kids will be living out there grandparents back garden in a lag cabin
Import the third world, Become the third world!
POTA!
Enough of this debacle now, no point contributing to dialogue on this sad happening for children of this isle, it is what it is let’s wait until the doors are open.
Unless the minister gets the working conditions right for the medical and nursing staff the crisis continues.
Doctors do you real jobs and turn up for work at weekends
have your say