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Why senior Garda officers are ‘livid’ over latest bid to fill deputy commissioner post

Usually there would be a stampede within the Garda ranks among ambitious officers who wanted the job. But not this time

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has been approached by the Government about another contract extension but has declined. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has been approached by the Government about another contract extension but has declined. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins
Conor Lally's picture
Conor Lally
Fri Aug 09 2024 - 06:00

The dispute over who will become the next deputy commissioner in An Garda Síochána comes at a time of much turmoil in the organisation. In the normal course of events, the Garda Commissioner sits atop the organisation, with two deputy commissioners just below; one for “policing and security” and one for “strategy, governance and performance”.

The post of deputy commissioner for “policing and security” has been vacant for months. Usually there would be a stampede within the Garda ranks among ambitious officers who wanted the job. But not this time.

Gardaí are concerned that pension rules introduced long ago will land them with very significant tax bills – up to €300,000 for the current assistant commissioners on retirement, rising up to €500,000 for deputy commissioners. And they want some relief on those pension tax bills before they look for more senior posts.

It means the current assistant commissioners, and chief superintendents, are very reluctant to apply for the deputy commissioner job, with the competition set to close the week after next. A first competition, opened last year, had to be abandoned because so few quality candidates applied.

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Senior officers believed they had a promise from the Government that the job would not be re-advertised until a review of the pensions regime was completed, reviewed and some actions taken by the Department of Finance. Sources said they are “livid” that promise has been broken. Very few, if any, of them plan to apply for the job. And that means it is likely to go to a senior police officer from outside the jurisdiction.

That would mean all three senior posts at the top of the Garda being filled by officers from outside the Republic. Drew Harris, from the North, is already Garda Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon is from Canada.

Added to the mess is news that Mr Harris has been approached by the Government about another contract extension but has declined. It appears the Government proposed a second extension – which he would have to apply for as he turns 60 years early next year – so he would remain in the post for long enough to resolve the succession issues. But now in his seventh year in the Garda, it seems he prefers to leave the post, as planned, next summer; a date the Government has known about for a long time.

While this is going on, the main Garda associations have serious issues with a variety of practices. The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents about 11,000 rank-and-file gardaí, is threatening a work to rule as part of a dispute over expenses.

The association has complained that subsistence and travel allowances – available to gardaí deployed on special operations away from their home station – are still at 2002 levels. It is threatening work-to-rule measures that would slow and undermine national policing operations, unless the issue is resolved in its favour.

At the same time the Association of Garda Superintendents has withdrawn from any further roll-out of the operating policing model. It is the major reform programme under way in the Garda involving the merger of divisions and bolstering expertise in the enlarged divisions.

The superintendents’ association is angry after some of its members were asked to double job – take on new roles on a temporary basis, along with their full-time jobs, to plug vacancies. It says it was told when the divisions were being enlarged superintendents would not be asked to double job. And it has withdrawn from the roll-out of the reforms in opposition to what members see as a broken promise.