Garda Commissioner says morale low in ‘pilloried’ force

Morale in the Garda force has been low, with many members serving on the front line feeling “pilloried” in recent years, the Garda Commissioner has said.

Noirín O’Sullivan described as a “huge job of work” her efforts to reinvigorate those Garda members who felt “downtrodden” after a period of years in which investment in resourcing and recruitment was lacking.

She said the kind of work that had claimed the life of Garda Tony Golden – when trying to take a domestic abuse victim out of an unsafe home environment – was being done by other gardaí all over the State on a daily basis.

“There is no doubt about it that over the last couple of years members of An Garda Siochana have felt pilloried,” she said in Athlone, Co Westmeath, on Wednesday.“They had been pilloried by a lot of negative commentary in relation to members of An Garda Siochana and An Garda Siochana on the whole. So there is a huge job of work that has to be done to reinvigorate and boost morale.”

Asked if the force being “pilloried” was unfair, Commissioner O’Sullivan said: “That was a reality. We were no different to any other private or public sector organisation, everybody suffered. But sometimes we have to look at criticism as constructive and we have to learn from it.

“In order to support our members and to help our members to do that work, we have to ensure they have the capacity in the first instance. And that is why I was very focussed on getting recruitment startedagain.”

It was especially important when gardaí were “feeling downtrodden” that new blood was being introduced, as well as information technology and the fleet.

The €205 million for new ICT over the next five years was very welcome as was plans to hire 600 new gardaí next year and the addition of an extra €5.3 million by the Government for 260 Garda vehicles before the end of the year.