Gardai attack reserve force plans

Rank and file gardaí have joined sergeants and inspectors in attacking plans for a new Garda reserve force, questioning whether the proposal for the unpaid force is "akin to the Irish Ferries issue".

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) is now calling on the Republic's trade union movement to lend support to it and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) in opposing plans for the new reserve force.

AGSI has already said it is "horrified" by the plans, dismissing them as a "Mad Hatter's scheme".

GRA general secretary PJ Stone said the public did not expect Irish Ferries to hire migrant workers for much less remuneration than the current, mainly Irish, workforce. "But we seem to have no difficulty about the concept of improperly trained people being utilised on a cheap labour basis to operate as members of An Garda Síochána. Paid nothing at all."

He described the reserve force, which Minister for Justice Michael McDowell wants in place by next September, as "amateur policing working on a voluntary basis".

"Will this be construed by the greater trade union movement as restricting our members' right to earn overtime payments or the right to recruit properly trained personnel into key positions?

"What accountability is there for volunteers, in uniform, who will not be subject to the Garda code [of discipline]."

Mr Stone said An Garda Síochána was still not adequately resourced. He accused Mr McDowell of failing to deal with resourcing from "behind a smokescreen of legislation claiming to bring the force into a new era".

"With clichés and business propositions he has used the language of modernisation to suggest that the force is adequately resourced, when this simply isn't true," Mr Stone said.

He was writing in the latest issue of Garda Review, the GRA's monthly magazine.

He hoped the trade union movement would support gardaí in their efforts to block part-time reservists working alongside "fully trained colleagues".

The establishment of a reserve force is provided for in the Garda Síochána Bill. Reservists will not receive payment but will be reimbursed for expenses. It is envisaged that reservists will work 24 hours each month.

They will be deployed on high-visibility duties including Garda checkpoints, on the beat in residential areas, and at public order flashpoints.

They will have all the powers of full-time gardaí, including the power of arrest. However, unlike full-time members of the force, they will not have these powers when they are off duty.

Training will be carried out over 24 hours: two hours over 12 weekends. Applications will be open to any member of the public aged from 18 to 57.