There was a moment in February 2013 when rank-and-file gardaí believed they were reaching a turning point in their long-running campaign for the reversal of cuts in their pay.
A 31-strong delegation from the Garda Representative Association (GRA) had been invited to meet then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan in Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park, Dublin.
They had already voted no confidence in Callinan and then minister for justice Alan Shatter for what they saw as their neglect of both the policing service and the men and women who manned the frontline.
The GRA again and again highlighted how its members were under crippling financial pressure.
When they saw Callinan shed a tear as he heard how gardaí were struggling financially, the GRA delegation felt he may be able to take their case to Government and somehow push for their receiving a financial break.
Though some progress has been made on resources since then, there is still a mountain to climb. And gardaí have gotten precisely nowhere in trying to better their remuneration.
After years of trying and failing to get its message across, on Wednesday the GRA’s patience expired.
It has told the Government that unless it sees real progress towards tangible pay increases in the next five weeks it is going to strike on the four Fridays in November.
Over the edge
According to members of the organisation, the final nudge that pushed them over the edge came in the so-called draft agreement between the GRA and Department of Justice that emerged at the end of last week.
It aimed to persuade gardaí to sign up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement and made a number of concessions in return. The headline item was the restoration of a €4,150 rent allowance to new members.
The agreement was taken by the GRA's leadership to the meeting of 145 representatives from the Garda divisions nationally in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on Wednesday where it was unanimously rejected.
Some senior figures in the GRA were furious the agreement was presented in a number media reports last weekend as having already been agreed to by the association’s leadership.
Militant
For a while the delegates considered engaging in work to rule forms of protest or slightly more militant actions.
These included refusing to use the Garda’s computerised Pulse database, ceasing to input intelligence gathered on criminals and/or refusing to issue tickets for motoring infringements.
Those present argued that they had been ignored for so long and were under so much pressure that they needed to act much more decisively.
And so the unprecedented decision was taken for gardaí to withdraw their service on the four set dates in November.
It was agreed even though gardaí are not permitted to join a trade union and banned under law from organising a strike. But GRA members said they had been left with no option. “That agreement they produced just summed up the lack of respect,” said one Garda member in his 50s based in Dublin.
“There was nothing in it for us and it shows they’re not taking us seriously. I don’t know how anyone in the Department [of Justice] or even in our own organisation thought we were going to look at that and say ‘yeah, that’s great, let’s vote for that’.”
Those gathered in Tullamore not only agreed to the proposal for four days of industrial action, they all also signed their names to a letter confirming their agreement.
The bold step is a major test for the key figures, no more so than for new GRA general secretary Pat Ennis.
He has just taken over from the experienced PJ Stone who was in the post since the late 1990s. Indeed, Wednesday’s meeting was initially called to ratify Ennis in the job.
Gardaí insist the level of anger among GRA representatives mirrors the level of militancy within the force generally.
“If you go back a few years, we took a vote of no confidence in Shatter and Callinan and had regional meetings about them all over the county and that got us nowhere,” said one Garda member.
“We then went to Callinan in the depot and shared stories about the hardship of some of our people. That got us nowhere.
“And we’ve had these go-slow protests and we have made no progress at all. We’re technically not allowed to go on strike because we’re not a union and we can’t even have an input in pay talks.
“So, really, they can do what they want with us and we have no comeback. So this is us creating comeback. Nobody really wants this, but we have to do it.”
Other rank and file gardaí say their jobs have become intolerable.
They said the creation of agencies such as the Garda Ombudsman, Garda Inspectorate and Garda Authority had created unprecedented levels of bureaucracy.
Suspended
At the same time, recruitment has only recently started again after a long freeze during which time more than 1,500 members left the force.
Garda stations had been closed down, new rosters had been introduced creating more work during unsocial hours, promotions had mostly been suspended and many Garda members feel that system is still riddled with favouritism.
“There’s more and more work to be done by less and less people and most of us are on our hands and knees financially,” said one member.
“People bought houses during the boom and have big mortgages but our pay is down and taxes are up. And for some of the members; their wives or husbands lost their jobs.”
Others say while many gardaí had speculated in the property market by investing in the rental sector and were close to financial ruin as a result, even those without those problems were “really suffering”.
“When Callinan went and Noirin O’Sullivan came in she made noises, she seemed to understand,” said one garda.
“At one stage she seemed to say she’d examine the rules restricting members taking on part-time work outside the job. But that just never happened. It was all just buzzwords and management babble.”
A number of members said Garda headquarters had the power to relax those restrictions, even if it had no authority over pay.
But many believed the financial plight of rank and file gardaí and the increased pressures of their jobs were simply not being taken seriously by Garda management or the Government.
“We have to do something drastic to get their attention,” said one. “If we don’t we’ll be left to moan about pay for the next five years, just like the last five. We have been too easy to ignore.”
