Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 63:

In page 90, line 16, to delete “to withhold his or her services”.

Amendments Nos. 63 and 153 are similar. In 2014 or thereabouts, the European Confederation of Police, EuroCOP, to which the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI, is affiliated, took a case to the European Committee of Social Rights and was successful. The Committee determined that it was contrary to the European Social Charter that members of An Garda Síochána were not permitted to join a trade union and that the Garda representative bodies enjoyed fewer negotiating rights than trade unions and that gardaí did not have the right to strike. A Bill went before the Dáil and was voted down by the then Government. Notwithstanding that, some progress was made with regard to that in 2016 or 2017. However, that does not change the fact that Ireland has been found by the European Committee of Social Rights to be in breach of the European Social Charter.This would essentially give gardaí the right to strike, however I suspect they would not utilise that right. In reality, there could be something like what Professor John Horgan recommended, which would be a negotiation whereby members of the Garda might agree to forego the right to strike, or the right to strike in what we would normally understand to be a strike, in return for certain procedural rights they do not currently enjoy.I am conscious of the ongoing dispute between the AGSI and the Garda Commissioner and that is a matter for the industrial relations machinery of the State. This is about remedying the situation whereby Ireland was found to be in breach of its international obligations. If we talk about policing and the rule of law etc, regardless of whether something is domestically enforceable or not, it does not change the fact that the law is the law and Ireland has been found to be in breach. This is why this amendment, together with the linked amendment, would give members of the Garda the right to strike.