Commissioner Drew Harris says Garda protest ‘not particularly helpful’

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has described a planned protest march by members of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) as “unnecessary” and “not particularly helpful”.

The AGSI is to hold a “day of action” and stage a protest march to Garda headquarters in Dublin on Monday over roster concerns.

Gardai were moved to a new roster during the Covid-19 pandemic and the AGSI said “undertakings by the Garda Commissioner that we would return to our normal working patterns have not been honoured”.

Mr Harris said roster issues have been examined for three and a half years and have moved to an external process at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

“We tried hard internally to find a resolution, that wasn’t possible,” he said.

He said the rationale for changing rosters included efficiency, effectiveness and cost.

“The protest itself will be unnecessary given the action taken. I don’t think it is particularly helpful when we’re going into the process of the WRC,” Mr Harris said.

Minister for Justice Simon Harris said on Friday that he had held meetings with all four Garda representative bodies about the issue, and hoped that talks would bring a solution.

“A number of these issues came up at the meetings, specifically in relation to rosters – it is clear there’s a strong difference of view between Garda management and Garda representative bodies,” he told reporters in Dublin.

“All disputes are resolved by sitting down and talking through issues – I hope and expect that that’s what will happen.

“It’s important that the Garda Commissioner has the number of gardai that he needs at the right time of the day or night, and I know it’s also important that the views of rank-and-file gardai are listened to carefully.”

Mr Harris was speaking at the reopening of a Garda station in O’Connell Street, Dublin, where Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the matter was “a very important issue that needs to be resolved”.

“We need rosters that work for the public so that the gardai are available when they need to be available,” he added.

“But we also need rosters that work for gardai, that respect family and the work-life balance.”

The O’Connell Street station will be home to a community policing team and be open between 8am and 2am.

Asked if the station has full services such as cells and a detective unit, Mr Harris said there would be no detectives working there but there was no shortage of cells elsewhere in the city centre.

“This should be seen as a community policing station,” he said.

Mr Varadkar said the reopening was a “symbol of the Government’s commitment to make the Norther Inner City and, for all those who live here, a safer and stronger community”.

Asked about the logic behind the 2am closing time, Mr Varadkar said there were other Garda stations in the area and there was a desire to “have our resources on the street” rather than in buildings.