Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in today. I appreciate his coming in personally because this has been a tough week. While the credibility of An Garda Síochána as an organisation has been repeatedly called into question in recent years, I believe that Irish people still have a lot of trust and belief in their local community Garda. This trust has been fought for and won over several decades of work and partnership. I welcome the fact that the Minister says the money for overtime payments has been allocated.

There are, however, some issues I want to raise. First, there are simply not enough gardaí. According to the Garda Representative Association, GRA, in order to have a similar level of policing in Ireland as in Scotland it is estimated that 17,000 gardaí are required nationwide. Today there are only 13,400. The Minister mentioned a major national recruitment campaign in recent months but that has yet to really make itself clear in the form of gardaí on the streets and working in communities. That is my concern. We are still almost 4,000 gardaí short of what we need for a fully effective police force. Second, we need to acknowledge that we have been over reliant on overtime. It is not sustainable to run an understaffed organisation by asking those limited staff to regularly work extra hours. Overtime is used to facilitate major operations and public gatherings, which there are more of at this time of year coming into the Christmas season, when more alcohol is drunk. Overtime pay should ideally be used in extraordinary circumstances, recognising that for some unforeseen reason, gardaí are being asked to work above and beyond their normal duties, and for a limited period. It should not be used as standard, which is what we hear from gardaí on this issue. It is not a sustainable solution to the shortages, and in an ideal world there would be very little or no requirement to use that budget pot at all. We are relying on it, however, to top up the workforce and we need to address it. The announcement today by the assistant commissioner that this budget has been exhausted was quite alarming.

I would like to consider Garda working conditions and rights. Gardaí have very little ability to negotiate collectively with their employer, the State, as it does not allow them the right to truly unionise, and for those unions to be able to attend the Workplace Relations Commission, and the Labour Court. Collective bargaining would also allow rank and file gardaí to have a real say in the future reforms and improvements in the police force, providing the real expertise necessary to achieve the ideal gardaí of the future. Surely this is something we should at least seriously consider.

Almost all other workers in Ireland have these rights, and while the prospect of Garda strikes, or other industrial action is a very frightening one, the onus is on the State, and on the Department of Justice and Equality in particular, to do everything we can to listen to them and to ensure their working conditions are sufficient for them to do their duty excellently and to continue to benefit from the trust people place in them. There are obvious and serious problems in An Garda Síochána at present, and I do not intend to rehash the debates we have already had on breath tests, Templemore or the appalling treatment of whistleblowers. These events have been truly shocking to witness, and have undermined public trust in An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice and Equality. In a majority of cases, gardaí of quite senior rank were ultimately responsible for these decisions. Recently we also learned that the Policing Authority does not believe that An Garda Síochána actually has the capacity to implement the reforms recommended in the 'Changing Policing in Ireland' report. This is a matter of grave concern for us all and we need to take action. In the long term, it is absolutely essential that we get back to work on reforming the entire police force. We need to ensure that our people are safe, that there are enough gardaí on the streets, and that those gardaí feel as protected as possible in performing their duties.