The proposed Garda Reserve is a massive deception. What we need is a full-time force at full strength, writes PJ Stone
There seems to be a school of thought in Government that goes along the lines "if we can't legislate our way out of it, we'll fudge it". What Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats have done is instigated a legislative treadmill which creates the illusion that their reform agenda is akin to proper public service resourcing policy. Indeed if we look across the public service this fudge is obvious with patients on trolleys instead of hospital beds, children in prefabs instead of classrooms and now mock gardaí instead of real ones.
Now through their staff associations, the majority of gardaí have come together to advise the Irish people about the proposed Garda Reserve as a massive deception on behalf of this Government.
This Government has enacted 40 pieces of criminal justice legislation since 1997 with more on the way still. Yet gardaí still have to buy batteries for their own torches, make calls for support if patrolling alone (a common occurrence) on their own mobile phones and drive patrol cars with over 200,000 miles on the clock.
Our opposition to the reserve comes from a frustration on behalf of our members and concern that the Irish people are being sold a pup ahead of next year's general election in which crime and anti-social behaviour will figure strongly. More pertinently, we believe the concept is in contravention of health and safety legislation by putting both full-time and reserve gardaí at risk due to the lack of proper training of the reservist, which could leave both officers in a vulnerable position in difficult circumstances.
The Garda Representative Association has been advised that a case taken at European level, on health and safety grounds, would be accorded strong support.
It is certainly an avenue we will consider unless there is a serious rethink by this Government on its plans to resource our force using best international police funding criteria.
We believe it is vital if reform is to take place that it is carried out on a basis of service effectiveness not just financial efficiency or political expediency. The public must be left with an improved, more effective force that is able to provide a better service. It is also vital that the welfare of both Garda officers and staff are taken into consideration. It is our view that reformation of this magnitude should have been subject to widespread public consultation and the Garda Representative Association has been continually calling for an open forum on Irish policing to examine all aspects of policing that would allow this consultation process to take place.
The proposed Garda Reserve also has the potential for a massive wages and pensions claim in years to come if the international experience is to be heeded. As of last April the Scottish national executive started to give full pay and pension rights to their special constables, one of many jurisdictions to do likewise including individual police authorities and county councils across the UK.
In Canada, a lengthy and costly review process was undertaken last year culminating in recommendations to remunerate their special constables accordingly and restrict their powers.
What assurances can Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats give the taxpayer they will not have to foot a substantial retrospective pay bill in respect of these 4,000 reservists? If we are going to use international best practice examples then let's learn from their mistakes and implement accordingly. Our issue is the speed at which this Government is willing to throw taxpayers' money away on this proposal yet do nothing for the full-time force in terms of equipment, protection and accommodation.
A key requisite of any economy is that its people feel secure as they go about their business, making a living, paying their taxes and generally getting on with their lives. With record tax returns to the Exchequer it takes an organisational genius to put this security in jeopardy. That genius exists in the corridors of Leinster House. Every housing estate in the country can bear witness to this fact every weekend as well as every town and city that are held to ransom by a few deviants out of sheer thuggery. The proposal whereby 40 per cent of An Garda Síochána will have received the bare minimum in training and yet have full Garda powers is an issue that cannot be treated lightly and should have been widely consulted prior to full implementation.
There is no comparison with the Reserve Defence Forces (RDF) or the Defence Forces, neither of which have the powers of arrest or the right to access sensitive information on members of the public. Neither do both organisations interact with one another in the same capacity as it is proposed the Garda Reserve does with full time gardaí. At meetings prior to the enactment of the Garda Act we were told by the Minister for Justice that the Garda Reserve section was enabling legislation only for use in exceptional circumstances in the future. So are we to take it then, that these exceptional circumstances have arrived? That in itself is an admission that they have dithered on resources so long they have left frontline emergency services, not just gardaí, bereft of the means of doing their jobs properly.
What we need is a full-time force at full strength. This means an optimum number survey to ascertain exactly how many gardaí are needed on a district by district basis and then commitment from senior management and Government to implement these staffing levels. We also need to reactivate the moribund programme within the force to free up more officers and get them into frontline roles.
What the people do not deserve is this ill-thought out scheme which will do absolutely nothing except falsely inflate the number of uniforms on our streets, filled with people without the training to do the job properly.
Is it right to perpetrate this illusion on an unsuspecting public?
We object to the Garda Reserve because its implementation has been carried out with the same characteristic arrogance and lack of understanding which crystallises this Government's approach to law and order and An Garda Síochána.The Government spin is of record increases for the force year on year, yet we have seen the vast majority of this modest increase swallowed up in overtime because there are simply not enough gardaí to meet the requirements of an increasing population. There has been no comparable index-linked increase in capital investment in the force.
What we need here is leadership. Real, strong leadership from our politicians, both in Government and Opposition, and senior Garda management who can stand up and call a halt to the endless politicking on issues that is turning our young people away from figures of authority and towards drugs, anti-social behaviour and mindless rioting as seen on the streets of Dublin only a few weeks ago.
Our elected representatives need to wake up and stop hiding behind legislative charades and grasp this problem and spend less time handbagging one another across the Dáil chamber.
These are the pressing issues for gardaí and the Irish people.
PJ Stone is general secretary of the Garda Representative Association