GRA criticises Conroy over reserve policy

The largest Garda staff representative association has criticised Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy for his handling of Government plans to introduce a Garda reserve force.

In an unprecedented attack by rank-and-file officers on Mr Conroy, general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) PJ Stone has accused the commissioner of failing to "stand firm" on the proposed force.

He said Mr Conroy should have told the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, from the outset that his plans would not work unless he consulted with serving members. The GRA represents about 10,000 of the force's 12,500 members.

Mr Stone will today lead a GRA delegation into a fresh round of talks on the Garda reserve with Mr McDowell and his officials.

Writing in the current issue of Garda Review, the GRA's official magazine, Mr Stone said Mr McDowell was trying to present his plans for the Garda reserve as if they had originated with Mr Conroy.

"Why has the commissioner not come out and disputed who proposed the reserve first and say that it was the Department of Justice and not the commissioner as is being reported?"

In the magazine's editorial, Mr Stone says that if a different approach had been taken by Garda management when the proposal for the reserve force was first mooted, the current dispute could have been avoided.

"Our leadership in An Garda Síochána has been absent on this and other issues," writes Mr Stone. "If the commissioner had stood firm and asked for time to give due consideration to a consultation process then they would not have demeaned the members of the force whose families made the sacrifice to support them through their lengthy and involved training programme.

"If only the commissioner had the temerity at the outset to say to the Minister that this scheme would not work without a consultative process throughout the force."

A spokesman for An Garda Síochána last night said Mr Conroy was currently in a process of consultation on the reserve force with the Garda staff associations and Mr McDowell. As a result he was "not inclined to comment publicly at the moment in relation to these issues".

Mr Stone, along with GRA president Dermot O'Don-nell, will this afternoon hold talks in Dublin with Mr McDowell on plans for the Garda reserve.

The GRA is expected to once again outline its opposition to the plan.

Mr McDowell will tomorrow meet a delegation from the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), which is also opposed to the creation of the Garda reserve.

Both organisations have held road shows in recent months in Cork, Sligo and Laois. A final joint mass meeting has been agreed for May 2nd at the Red Cow Inn, Naas Road, Dublin.

However, before this takes place, AGSI's annual conference will be held in Killarney for three days beginning on April 10th. It is likely to be dominated by debate on the Garda reserve, with many delegates set to call on AGSI for a policy of non-co-operation.