Dáil debates

Thursday, 25 November 2021

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions

An Garda Síochána

10:40 am

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of Garda business, including the redeployment of gardaí and its staff. It also includes management of human resources and industrial relations matters and I do not play role a role in these matters. I want to be clear about what happened. The event did not take place in-person. That was very clear. My Department's role was to allow for the event to take place. This event had to take place by the end of May 2020 and to regulations had to be introduced to allow it to take place at a later date.

Due to the public health guidelines introduced in response to Covid-19, the annual delegate conference of the GRA could not be held in the usual in-person format. As a result, the GRA communicated directly with my Department in the course of 2020 on the possibility of holding the conference later in the year, and exploring the scope for regulatory changes to support this. Following this and consultation with the Garda Commissioner and the Policing Authority, the Garda Síochána (Associations) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 were signed on 8 December in accordance with section 122 of the Garda Síochána Act. These regulations provided that the conference need not take place in person and, subsequent to this, I understand the annual delegate conference proceeded as a virtual event on 29 December 2020. Simply put, the organisation contacted my Department asking that we make provision for it to hold the conference virtually. I think the initial date was 20 January. A specific date was provided and a request to delay it was submitted. The conference eventually took place on 29 December. That is what happened. Obviously, my Department is available to support the Garda representative organisations if they wish to hold their annual delegate conferences throughout the year.

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