Ms Antoinette Cunningham:

I will take the Senator’s question on the right to strike. Traditionally, when people spoke about gardaí going on strike, it was unpalatable and they said that it would have been unbecoming of a disciplined organisation to be able to do so. The AGSI is not talking about going on strike without the establishment of a code of practice for essential services like An Garda Síochána. When industrial disputes have occurred in the Garda in recent years, and because we do not carry a controlled right to go on strike or an industrial relations mechanism similar to strike action, we end up with individuals saying that they will withdraw their labour on particular days. That leaves management and the Government in a lack-of-control position and creates unease and unrest in the communities we serve. It would be far better if the Government considered engaging with the Garda staff associations around establishing and agreeing upon a code of practice for minimum service requirements in the event of an industrial dispute. Does the Senator understand what I am saying? This would remove all of the vulnerabilities under the current arrangements. The staff associations know they are constrained by law in advocating for people to withdraw labour or go on strike, so individuals end up taking this course of action. This is why we are saying that the Government should enter into talks with Garda staff associations around these issues for better industrial relations mechanisms for the organisation. That is an appropriate request to make.

Regarding the operating model in the three counties to which the Senator referred, Kilkenny, Carlow and Kildare were similarly a three-county model originally. They have now been divided. Carlow-Kildare will be a Garda division and Kilkenny will join with Waterford, which is far more appropriate for the management of services required in those areas. Significantly, the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and APSFF recommended the amalgamation of Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal. This is why we question whether the commission's recommendations are still valid. Anyone who has ever travelled through Donegal will know the vastness of the area that a division up there has to police. The AGSI has recommended from the outset that Donegal should remain as a stand-alone division. We are pleased that that has now happened. The reviews were taken with Garda management – the chief superintendents responsible in the area – and I am sure that the Minister for Justice was consulted. We are beginning to engage on the model’s effect on inspectors and sergeants from a supervisory perspective. Changes have been made to three-county models. I mentioned the two three-county models that still remain. We are advocating that they be changed back to two-county models for the sake of a more visible and controlled policing presence. What we do not want is the centralisation of Garda resources in a single location from which they are dispersed out on a call-answering basis. What we want to see is people in Donegal having a stand-alone division, where the policing requirements of Donegal from a legal perspective are met and the service caters for the needs of the community.

The Senator asked about the relationship with Garda management. We in the AGSI would always say that more consultation is needed with Garda management. Sometimes, we fall into the traditional perception of staff associations being on one side of the table and management being on the other. It is far better to have collaborative processes because everyone would be engaged. We are critical of the office of the APSFF, which is run by the Department of the Taoiseach, because it has not asked the AGSI for consultation despite us raising the matter with the Minister for Justice a number of times. Collaborative approaches in organisations work better. In a reform agenda like the APSFF, more consultation with staff associations means more buy-in from members because they feel like their voices are being heard. We would always say that there is room for greater consultation.