Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Deputy McNamara's efforts and I appreciate the opportunity to make some short points in support of it.

The first time I had a chance to vote, which was not today nor yesterday, was an opportunity in the 1980s to vote for candidates who stood under the banner of the Army wives in County Kildare where I am from. That campaign by the spouses of soldiers raised very legitimate concerns that Defence Forces personnel had about their wages and conditions, which traditionally have been and are today relatively poor. There is a lack of adequate pay and respect, and a voice for our soldiers.

Obviously, I used my vote to support them and from their campaign PDFORRA emerged as a representative organisation for Defence Forces personnel. That has been a very positive experience, but I do not think it is enough. I think it has been good at agitating and putting in the spotlight the very poor conditions of soldiers. We are on the record of the House as saying that numerous soldiers' families have to secure family income supplement to make ends meet. We have had the stories of soldiers sleeping in their cars because barracks have been shut down and allowances have not been sufficient to enable them to get accommodation and so on.

The idea that these people are not workers and are somehow apart is something that really capitalism as a method of organising society has done. It has attempted to put gardaí and soldiers as separate from other workers. I support the idea that they are just workers in uniform and in that sense their allegiance should be with their fellow workers and they should have the right to be represented by a trade union in a real sense. That is important not only from the point of view of them having the ability to advance their economic position, which all workers should have, but it is doubly the case in this era of austerity where we have starting rates for gardaí and Army personnel which are an absolute joke. There is a downgrading of these jobs which should be remunerated better than they are at present.

I find it sickening in the extreme that so-called representative organisations that masquerade as supporting rank and file gardaí would be largely silent on the appalling cutbacks on Garda pay and conditions and yet are vociferous in their criticism of those of us in here who try to raise issues of Garda reform. On the idea that gardaí do not need serious trade union representation, the argument is won by the inaction of the GRA and the AGSI.

I have been a shop steward, and still am, for many decades. One often hears workers criticising shop stewards and union officials as being apart from their members and that they do not agitate sufficiently for their members' needs and objectives. While that is often the case, it is certainly the case with the GRA and AGSI which seem to be using that organisation as a vehicle for promoting themselves or something. It is certainly not being used to challenge management by any stretch.

That was really vindicated at the time of the GSOC bugging scandals when the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, contacted the four Garda representative organisations and asked them to issue a statement condemning GSOC and stating they had no confidence in it. The AGSI and GRA happily obliged.

They were not so quick to come out and support their members who stood against the tide and put the spotlight on the terrible abuses being undertaken by some senior gardaí against citizens and other gardaí. They have been shamefully quiet about some of their members who are still in the force and enduring poor behaviour because they spoke out about bad practices.

This is timely and necessary legislation. We only need to look around at what is being attempted in terms of, for example, the water charges protests. We have been in contact with senior gardaí who are disappointed to have been asked to ask their members to police and stand watch on communities where, for years, they have been attempting to build proper relations. They have been pitted against residents at a time when they would prefer to be dealing with crime and doing the job that some of them signed up to do. This is a very dangerous undermining of the Garda and the conditions of decent gardaí who signed up to do a good job and do not want to be pitted against their neighbours and friends. The only way in which such people can have a voice is if they are given proper trade union rights and protection when taking a stand. I support the right to strike of Defence Forces and Garda personnel. They should view their role as serving the community and standing alongside residents, not as being pitted against and set apart from their neighbours and friends.

I welcome this debate. It is important that we advance these issues. I compliment Deputy McNamara on introducing this legislation.

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