Vol. 454 No. 2
2 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Justice when she will make a statement on the document recently submitted to her by the Garda Representative Association regarding proposals to resolve the internal Garda dispute. [10428/95]
On the evening of 29 May, 1995 I received a very detailed document from the Garda Representative Association containing the association's response to my discussion document on possible ways of solving the representation dispute, which I had circulated to the three groupings in the dispute on 23 March 1995. I had already received the response from the other two groups.
The Deputy will appreciate that I require a little time to reflect on the responses received but I hope to be in a position to meet the three groups before the end of this month to indicate how I propose to proceed.
In the meantime, the prudent course would be to avoid public comment on the responses I have received.
In the public interest, will the Minister say whether there are any negotiations or contacts with the parties to the dispute? With whom are contacts being made and for how long does the Minister intend to allow the Garda Síochána to take a battering in the public mind, and the morale of the ordinary garda on the street to be sapped by this dispute?
I have recently received a substantial reply from the Garda Representative Association. I had already received the other two responses. I am now reviewing the three responses. I do not propose, nor would the Deputy want me to, to debate and negotiate publicly with him the details of those reports. I am as concerned as anybody else to bring this dispute to an end. If the solution were as simple as the Deputy seems to think, why did the last Minister not solve this dispute? The solution is not simple. What I want is to ensure that we have a Garda association, a body that commands the respect of all gardaí in that rank. I am working towards a solution in a way in which I hope will have positive results.
As the Minister has been Minister for Justice for more than six months, can she at least tell the House the status of the Mulvey report?
The Mulvey report was commissioned by the previous Minister. In sending my discussion document to the three groups involved in the dispute, I included some elements of the Mulvey report. The Mulvey report, my discussion document and any responses the Garda sent to me will form part of the efforts to bring this dispute to an end.
With the unprecedented level of crime, does the Minister accept it is imperative the dispute is resolved without further delay? Does she consider that the dispute can be resolved without any of the parties resorting to litigation to achieve their objectives, in other words, without them seeking trade union status through the courts and affiliation to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions?
The Deputy is trying to bring me to a negotiating table with him, although he is not part of the GRA, the federation or the group. I agree it is time the dispute was brought to an end but it will not be resolved by driving the parties to litigation. For that reason. I proceeded in the way I thought was in the best interests of good industrial relations in trying to bring the parties together. I have often discussed the matter with the Garda Commissioner who advises me that Garda operations on the ground are not affected by the dispute in that the professionalism of the gardaí wins out in the performance of their duties over any personality clashes that might exist.
