The two biggest Garda representative associations have told their members to co-operate with the Garda Reserve recruitment process after the Department of Justice made acceptance of the reserve force a precondition to Garda wage increases. Conor Lally reports.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) and Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) had both previously insisted that their members would not co-operate with the reserve force. However, both have now issued a circular to all members instructing them to co-operate with any order they receive in relation to the processing of applications
The unexpected move came after applicant paperwork began arriving from Garda headquarters, Dublin, at stations around the country during the week for the purposes of security checks.
Gardaí, sergeants and inspectors were unsure if they should comply with orders from their superiors to carry out the checks, given the policies of non-co-operation to the reserve adopted by the GRA and AGSI.
Many contacted their association to seek clarification. Both organisations decided to send out a circular on Thursday.
Meanwhile, just over 6,000 applications have been received for the first 900 reserve places. The scheme is to be run on a pilot basis in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Sligo.
Government sources last night said they believed the sending of the circular by the GRA and AGSI indicated the first softening in policy towards the reserve force.
"The Minister very much welcomes this," said one source.
However, sources within the organisations said the circulars related to the vetting of applications only. They said the implementation of the Garda Reserve was now being linked to the national wage agreement.
Like other public servants, the Garda must sign up to a pay and modernisation agenda under the agreement.
The Department of Justice has included the implementation of the Garda Reserve as part of the modernisation process.
The staff associations are anxious that no major difficulties should arise with the reserve force before the modernisation agenda is agreed in the next four weeks and pay rises secured.
It was unclear last night if the policies of both organisations towards the reserve force would harden again once the pay and modernisation talks were over.
However, even if that were the case, a sufficient number of applicants will have been processed by then to enable the pilot schemes to be rolled out.
Any policy of non-co-operation by GRA and AGSI members at that stage would have a very limited impact.
Both organisations had previously believed that reservists could only be deployed if they were in the company of full-time members. They planned to refuse to co-operate with the reservists, thus making the reserve force unworkable.
However, under the reserve force regulations members can be deployed once they are under the supervision of a superior, even if that is a station-bound superintendent or chief superintendent.
This means that once an applicant has cleared the security check they can work even if members of garda, sergeant and inspector rank do not co-operate with them. The policy of non-co-operation was adopted by the GRA and AGSI following ballots at their annual conferences in May and April respectively.