An Garda Siochana appears to be in turmoil. Before I retired last year I had experienced for myself the kind of low morale that I had never witnessed previously. I am told now by serving members that the situation has deteriorated even more. There is a sense among rank and file members that they are on their own and that senior management has abandoned them. Recent Garda Commissioners have been less than engaging with the regular members and they could hardly be described as having led from the front.
The current Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice have serious credibility issues. Both of them have stated repeatedly in the past that resources were not an issue for An Garda Siochana when that was obviously not true. Both of them have repeatedly suggested that rural communities will have an improved service after the closure of rural garda stations. This is also obviously not true. So I am slow to believe anything that either of those two people might come out with.
Where do we go from here?
Now we have a new crisis regarding the treatment of the whistle-blower, Maurice McCabe. The allegations that have been made are extremely serious and I would be happier knowing that Mrs. Fitzgerald and Mrs. O’Sullivan are going to be kept well away from handling any investigation. We already have a Garda Inspectorate and a Policing Authority who are both being funded by the State to ensure that the Garda Force is being operated correctly. That doesn’t appear to be working. So now a Judge is to be appointed to handle the latest allegations of misconduct. That’s going to cost another bag of money and no doubt there will be a few delays along the way that will keep us waiting for a result, probably until after the next election.
At the risk of repeating myself, nothing is going to change until we separate the office of the Garda Commissioner from all political interference. We need an independent policeman who can lead from the front without having to keep one eye on the politicians for their nod of approval.
100% correct Trevor ! Being retired since 2003 … I have huge empathy for rank and file members , who’s morale is so obviously very low ! Yes senior management and the dept of Justice have so much to answer for and correct , so as to enable a well educated group of people to provide the service the Irish people deserve , & we were happy to provide ,back in the day . Martin Landers
Didn’t realise you were gone that long Martin. Pure Dinosaur. 🙂
Greetings Trevor,
I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly.
During Michael McDowels tenure as Minister for Justice, the government of the day went about changing the face of An Garda Siochana, recruiting campaigns followed primarily aimed at recruiting well educated people thereby leading to a number of professional people with high aspirations joining the force. As so often happens these aspirations were not met leading in my view with a number of ” malcontents” within the origination.
The policing model that was adopted again in my view was a total failure, the one thing that holds a police force together is discipline since the Garda College opened as an Academic style college, discipline was non existent. When you and I started our careers discipline was literally drilled into us thereby instilling in us a respect for authority.
I am not in any way condoning the actions of wrongdoing by any member of the force but I do think that there should be a complete overhaul of the organisation from Templemore to the Phoenix park,
But it needs to be conducted by some outside agency and free from political interference. It needs to be focused on what’s best for the policeman and not the politician.