Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister knows, the GRA annual conference is taking place this week and I had the opportunity, like so many others, to listen to the reports from Ms Valerie Cox for the Pat Kenny programme when she spoke directly to gardaí about the issues affecting them. Morale is at its lowest level and, sadly, the relationship has broken down between the Minister and the association, meaning he is the first Minister in 35 years not invited to attend the conference. Nobody wins in that case, which is deeply regrettable.

How can the Minister stand here today and speak about not engaging? Gardaí cannot form a union and right now the AGSI is taking a case to Europe to allow gardaí to form a union and negotiate pay and conditions. It has also proposed an independent commission to examine matters like pay, which has been supported by the Garda Commissioner. What will the Minister do to try to resolve this crisis? It is definitely a crisis when the relationship between the Minister of the day and front-line gardaí or, specifically, the organisation representing 10,500 gardaí, has broken down. We need to sort out the issue as nobody wins in the current scenario.

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