GRA 'not ruling out' any action amid deteriorating relations with Garda Commissioner

Jonathan McCambridge and Cillian Sherlock, PA

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has said it has not ruled out any action in response to a deteriorating relationship with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

The organisation for rank-and-file of An Garda Síochána said it does not see a way forward in its ongoing dispute with the Garda Commissioner over rosters.

The escalation of rhetoric comes after almost 99 per cent of GRA who voted in a ballot expressed no confidence in the Garda Commissioner two weeks ago.

The unprecedented vote stemmed from discontent within the force, mostly around the Garda Commissioner’s plan to return to a pre-pandemic roster from November 6th.

Speaking to the media ahead of the GRA’s special delegates conference in Co Kilkenny on Wednesday, the organisation’s president Brendan O’Connor said he had “even less confidence” in the commissioner following a meeting with Mr Harris on Tuesday.

GRA general-secretary Ronan Slevin said: “We had a vote of no confidence in the commissioner two weeks ago and 99 per cent of our balloted decided they didn’t have confidence in the commissioner.

“We allowed two weeks for progress to be made in relation to the issue of the November 6th deadline, which we asked the commissioner to remove, which would allow us to go into discussions and finding a solution to the issue of rosters alone.

“As of yesterday, that didn’t happen, so as it stands at the moment we don’t see a way forward until that deadline has been addressed.”

Asked about whether rank-and-file would work to rule, refuse to take up overtime or refuse to use their personal phones, Mr Slevin said all options remain on the table.

Mr Slevin said: “The Commissioner made it very clear yesterday that the rosters will be imposed on November 6th, in his view, and he did not give us any cause for any hope that anything different would come from that. It appears that the commissioner is adamant that his position will not change.

“We are very reasonable, we have been working hard behind the scenes discussing possible solutions to the ime that is there at the moment.

“We believed that we have reached a point where we could progress matters but as of the decision of the commissioner yesterday, all that was futile.”

Mr Slevin said the delegates conference would discuss the issue.

“We will have a discussion with our delegates, I won’t pre-empt their decisions, I leave that totally to themselves. Absolutely everything is on the table, I am not discounting everything. I am not ruling out anything.”