Gardaí suspended from duty on suspicion of wrongdoing are being treated inhumanely and are being left as “broken individuals”, the outgoing president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has said.
In his address to Minister for Justice Helen McEntee at the GRA’s annual conference in Westport, Co Mayo, Frank Thornton called for a review of the Garda’s suspension policy.
More than 90 members of An Garda Síochána are suspended pending investigation. This includes some who have been suspended for up to eight years.
Gardaí are being suspended for months and years “without the preferring of charges or proper explanation”, he said.
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Mr Thornton said the GRA accepts sometimes suspension is warranted but, he said, “far too many of our members remain suspended without fair procedure or proper investigation”.
He said the way some suspended members are treated is “simply inhumane” and that the process is leaving many as “broken individuals”. Many suspended members could be allowed return to duty without the risk of interfering with the investigative process, he said.
Mr Thornton said it would be an understatement to say morale is low within the force. Last year 90 people resigned from the Garda rather than wait until retirement, he told the Minister, with another 25 doing the same this year.
“It appears many do not find a lifelong career in An Garda Síochána an attractive option,” he said.
The lack of support from the Department of Justice “has not gone unnoticed”, Mr Thornton said. Over the last three days the conference has heard that the Garda is losing members faster than they are being recruited, meaning the Government’s promise of reaching 15,000 members is unlikely to be delivered any time soon.
Mr Thornton said there has been a “shocking” 35 per cent annual increase in assaults on gardaí and there were 2,000 in the last year. Every month an average of 75 gardaí are out sick due to work-related injury, he said.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the Garda is “in a very strong place” and that he does not believe morale is poor within the organisation.
“I’m in stations constantly throughout the country and that is not my observation. I meet people in neighbourhood policing, in major crime investigation and in specialist units, and all of them have a real can-do, positive attitude about their work and they see the difference they are making,” Mr Harris told reporters. “So I do reject the claim that morale is at an all-time low.”
The commissioner said he recognised suspension was a “very big step” to take against gardaí and that it is not a step which was taken lightly. “But it’s done where we feel that it is essential to preserve confidence in An Garda Síochána.”
He said it is regrettable that some members are out on suspension for years but this has to be weighed against the seriousness of the alleged wrongdoing.
Separately, Mr Harris said gardaí are “very concerned” about the escalating violence in the Finglas area of Dublin as a result of a feud between criminal gangs. There were three arson attacks in the area over the weekend, including on the home of the mother of James Whelan, who was shot dead last month.
He said gardaí are running a very thorough investigation with the aim of ending the violence and “nipping this so-called feud in the bud”.
