Conference Report 2016

Section 1: Pay and Allowances
and our members’ economic and social
development. This discriminatory exclusion
prevailed over the 1971-82 National Wage
Agreement and again over the 1987-2007 Social
Partnership era and has persisted. It constitutes
one of the root causes of deep-seated frustration
and anger among our members.
Involuntary Overtime and unsocial hours
3.56 There is an obligation on the Association’s members
to discharge their duties on the basis of overtime
arrangements on pain of penalty on the direction of
either a superior officer or other external source
(e.g. the judiciary). In effect gardaí have been
traditionally subject, obliged or directed to work an
inordinate amount of overtime and unsocial hours.
Members cannot refuse to respond to such
directives.
3.57 This gives rise to an inappropriate and inequitable
imposition of the pension levy payment for the
Garda rank. The catchall application fails to take the
compulsory component into account; in stark
contrast with the majority of other employments
where overtime is optional. Furthermore, unlike
employment or work arrangements affecting the
national workforce, members of An Garda Síochána
are obliged to work unsocial hours.
3.58 While some other employments entail an element of
unsocial hours working, every effort is made to
minimise the extent e.g. in the Prison Service by
releasing some prisoners at Christmas, in the health
sector discharging patients at Christmas. In
contrast, Christmas Day is becoming particularly
busy for gardaí, with many citizens utilising the
Force as one of the few agencies available to them
for general assistance; not always directly
associated with policing.
PART fOuR: INDuSTRIAl STRIfE
4.1 In the lead up to the signing of the Haddington Road
Agreement the GRA expressed concern that
individual members did not put themselves beyond
the law. Actions were taken by individual gardaí,
starting with the withdrawal of the voluntary use of
personal equipment, followed by a refusal to
volunteer for overtime and subsequently via the
treatment of motor tax offences. However, the staff
associations prudently avoided directing or
encouraging members to engage in such actions,
though the pressure thereon was overwhelming.
4.2 This Association, despite being sidelined from key
and consequential decision making processes has
always been mindful of the potential damage
associated with industrial action to the public
standing of the force. That noted, there are
occasions when the Association cannot contain the
members’ anger and some limited forms of
industrial action have been necessitated (the ‘Blue
Flu’ in 1998, the PULSE boycott in 1999).
4.3 The anger that prompted these actions has
resurfaced sporadically in the Association’s
membership and is detrimental to the morale of the
Force; so important in police and the military as a
unifying energy to create the pride, enthusiasm and
vigour are key factors in motivation and productivity.
There is no efficient definition or measurement for
morale and it is only measurable in its absence.
4.4 The status and the morale of the Garda rank are at
‘an all-time low’. Whenever politicians refute this,
they do so without tangible evidence. For a Force
the size of An Garda Síochána a sample size of
1,000 would be required in any survey to give a
robust indicator; something that no government has
been prepared to sanction. The morale slump is also
attributable to declining rank numbers, depreciating
equipment, reduced resources, rising levels of
assault on on-duty gardaí (some 1,000 per annum
and underreported) and to the financial predicament
being faced by many junior gardaí with substantial
mortgages.
4.5 A related disconcerting feature of the vulnerable
and exploited position that the Garda rank now finds
itself in is that arguably its most important asset,
the trust and support of the public, has experienced
a worrisome downturn since the management and
oversight controversies throughout 2014; including
the allegations made by garda whistleblowers and
the fallout from the Cooke, Guerin and Fennelly
reports.
PART fIVE: PAy, CONDITIONS AND
AllOwANCES
5.1 Remuneration systems are the focus of persistent
scrutiny by employees, as they provide the means
to satisfy basic needs, and also allow satisfaction of
less tangible desires for personal growth and
satisfaction. The payment system is the key to the
provision of the means to live and achieve other
personal and family goals. The weekly or monthly
fund transfer is typically the single major source of
personal income for the employee and as a result
38th Annual Delegate Conference
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