The real challenge for Commissioner Conroy and Minister McDowell after the Morris tribunal's damning comments on Garda insubordination, is to ensure there is no rebellion over the Garda Reserve, writes Conor Lally
The most quoted extract from Mr Justice Morris's reports published a fortnight ago has been: "The tribunal has been staggered by the amount of indiscipline and insubordination it has found in the Garda force." Mr Justice Morris noted, "organised insubordination on a mass scale would be a disaster".
The national executives of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi) are currently mandated to embark on policies of "organised insubordination".
It is now more important than ever for Michael McDowell and Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy to overcome the mooted mass resistance to the Reserve Force from full-time members. If this is not done in the coming months, Mr McDowell faces a very difficult election campaign.
His detractors will undoubtedly point out that if the Minister cannot implement a policy approved by all political parties, (except Sinn Fein), what chance has he of putting right the organisational shortcomings identified by Mr Justice Frederick Morris?
At their conferences earlier this year GRA and Agsi delegates voted to formally adopt a policy of non-cooperation with the reserve force. Members of both organisations - that is, every member of the force under the rank of Superintendent - have agreed to ignore directions to work with reservists.
Mr McDowell and Mr Conroy have both warned the organisations that non-cooperation is simply not an option. They have said legislation providing for the Garda Reserve has been passed by the Oireachtas, in the form of the Garda Síochána Act. They have reminded members that, as the organisation charged with enforcing the laws of the land; they cannot simply ignore laws when it suits them. But the GRA and Agsi have said that this is exactly what they intend to do.
While Agsi has been silent thus far on the findings of the third, fourth and fifth Morris tribunal reports, the same cannot be said for the GRA. Just hours before the latest reports were published, the GRA released a statement in support of Det Sgt John White.
They did this despite the tribunal implicating him in very serious wrongdoing, namely the planting of a shotgun and a hoax explosives device. It was also done despite the fact that Mr White, as a sergeant, is not a member of the GRA, which represents members of garda rank only.
If there was any doubt after that statement as to the GRA's attitude to the Morris tribunal, it was cleared up by the association's general secretary P J Stone writing in this newspaper eight days ago. While acknowledging wrongdoing on the part of some gardaí in Donegal, he said Mr Justice Frederick Morris had overstepped his remit. Mr Justice Morris had only ever been asked to investigate matters in Donegal, yet his findings had been "generalised across the force".
The tribunal had also "crossed over into the political and industrial" by making recommendations relating to industrial relations issues. Mr Stone also said the assertion by Mr Justice Morris that the events of Donegal were common elsewhere was a "misplaced notion". Mr Stone prides himself on representing his members, all 10,000 of them, as vociferously as has he can.
But even by his standards his recent comments relating to the Morris tribunal were bullish. They will certainly offer little hope to Mr McDowell and Mr Conroy that the GRA might be about to soften its line on non-cooperation with the Garda Reserve.
Already, 4,000 people have applied to join the reserve since recruitment began two weeks ago. It is envisaged that some of these will be in training within weeks and will begin working well before the end of the year.
The disastrous consequences of mass insubordination to which Mr Justice Morris referred may come to a head very quickly indeed.