"BLUE FLU" protest participants broke five of the six promises they made when they joined the Garda, the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, said yesterday.
In his strongest condemnation of the action since the eve of the protest, Mr Byrne told delegates at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference he would not allow further protests to undermine his position.
"Much as I dislike it, confrontation between us seems inevitable," Mr Byrne said. The Garda force could "never be the same as it was on April 30th last", he said.
Mr Byrne said the GRA had denied organising the protest and had pinpointed individual frustrations of gardai. However, he said, gardai who phoned in sick on May 1st had been forced to choose between "loyalty to comrades and to their work." And the fear of "being termed `scab' triumphed over obligation to self and country."
More than 150 delegates representing 8,500 rank-and-file gardai listened in silence when Mr Byrne said young student gardai and probationers were "exposed to danger, while my most able and experienced officers were not available to me." The annual conference had heard delegates support the protest and propose ideas for further industrial action around the Tour de France in July.
"As your pay dispute heightened I said I wouldn't interfere unless the dispute began to disrupt policing," Mr Byrne said. "That day has arrived and energy is now being expended in planning further disruptions."
Mr Byrne said he understood the frustration of gardai and supported their pay claim. "I suggest that the pages of small print in the recent pay agreements with other organisations be examined by anyone who has influence on the issue and who has to decide on settlement. Because eventually there will be settlement."
As Commissioner he would not be "pushed aside to the role of bystander if interference with policing continues," he said. "I cannot and will not allow my position to be undermined."
Mr Byrne also referred to two recent controversies, the arrest of a Fine Gael member, Mr Tommy Morris, and the withdrawal of a murder charge against heroin addict Mr Dean Lyons.
Mr Byrne said the allegation that a Minister ordered the arrest two days before the presidential election implied "blatant corruption of a police service." Mr Morris has criticised gardai for the arrest in connection with the leaking of secret Foreign Affairs documents relating to the then presidential candidate, Mrs Mary McAleese.
"I was the only person consulted," Mr Byrne said, "and it was not by a Minister or any other politician, it was by my own operational people, who were directed by me to treat this case like any other case irrespective of political considerations. This they did."
Mr Byrne also defended the Garda handling of the case of Mr Lyons. The Dublin heroin addict, charged with the murder of two psychiatric patients in Dublin, remained in prison after another man held over a serious crime confessed to the murders.
Mr Byrne said he initiated an immediate inquiry and informed the DPP and Mr Lyons's legal representative of developments. "It was not a matter for the Garda Siochana alone in reaching the conclusion that was reached." And it was wrong to blame gardai for the "extended incarceration of the first suspect on this charge."
