AN INTERNAL inquiry has been ordered by Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan into complaints of preferential rostering and unfair allocation of overtime by a small group of officers at a station in the southern region.
The inquiry by Chief Supt Dave Sheahan of Limerick into the management by some middle-ranking officers in a district HQ in the southern region is expected to be completed shortly.
It was ordered by the commissioner after serious concerns were raised by serving officers in the district.
A number of serving officers from all ranks alleged that management of the district was being carried out by a small clique of middle-ranking officers who were selective in terms of rostering and allocating special duties that favoured members of the clique.
Among the complaints made to senior Garda management was that one officer had accumulated more than 1,000 hours of overtime at a time when other members were told that there were not any budgets available to carry out overtime patrol duties and special investigations.
Serving members across a number of ranks also complained that certain positions within the district were allocated to people on the basis of their membership of the clique and not advertised for open competition, as is the norm in other districts.
According to one source, morale in the district has been getting progressively worse over the past eight years or so and is reflected in the high number of transfers out of the district, which once was regarded as one of the best in the southern region.
“Morale is very low, particularly among younger members who have big mortgages to pay and have seen their pay cut by the various levies and at the same time then see a small group of people looking after themselves handsomely with overtime and other payments,” said one.
“Basically these people styled themselves as the army council and they allocated all the special jobs to themselves. If you were a new member coming into the district and weren’t willing to join them and play ball, you just found yourself being squeezed out.”
Chief Supt Sheahan brought with him a team consisting of one inspector and two detective sergeants from Limerick. At the end of July they began interviewing up to 70 members of all ranks serving in the district including the officers who were the subjects of the complaints.
The team also spoke to officers who had transferred out of the district in recent years and, according to one source, the fact that such officers were willing to speak to them was an indication of the scale of disillusionment among members.
“Normally, if a guy leaves a district because he’s unhappy with the place and having problems there, he just turns his back on it and doesn’t want anything more to do with it, but that’s not the case here. People who have left are more than happy to talk to the inquiry team.”
It is expected that Chief Supt Sheahan will present his report to the commissioner in the coming weeks. The Garda Press Office said the Garda did not comment on internal disciplinary matters.