Colm M. Hilliard
Ceist:8 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Justice the proposals, if any, she has for resolving the dispute between the Garda Representative Association and the Garda Federation. [18953/95]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Garda Representative Association.
Peadar Clohessy
Ceist:21 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Justice when she will introduce legislation in respect of the dispute in the Garda Representative Association; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18945/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 21 together. I issued a public statement concerning my approach to this matter on 7 November last, which among other things outlined the history of this dispute. The dispute became public knowledge at the Garda Representative Association annual delegate conference in 1994. However there are indications that there were serious disagreements within the association, in one form or another, for some time prior to that.
To date there have been four initiatives aimed at resolving the dispute. Two of these initiatives had been taken prior to my appointment as Minister for Justice. They were the offer by the Garda Commissioner of an assistant commissioner to act as a mediator, and mediation in a personal capacity by Mr. Kieran Mulvey, chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission.
The mediation proposed by the Garda Commissioner never got off the ground as the GRA did not take up his offer. The second initiative, which was taken by my predecessor, involved a very substantial attempt by Mr. Mulvey to resolve the issue. The report which he prepared for my predecessor contained a range of recommendations. Some significant recommendations proved unacceptable to the GRA, however, with the result that this initiative also failed.
On my appointment, I made clear my intention to follow the path of reason and consultation, and to listen carefully to what the three sides to the dispute had to say. Based on those consultations, I prepared a discussion document with suggestions aimed at reconciling differences. I circulated this document to the three groups in March 1995. Among the matters addressed in that document were the question of democracy within the GRA, the system of election of officers, the appointment of trustees, the management of standing orders and the need for review of the GRA's disciplinary procedures.
The responses from the three groups to my discussion document, while comprehensive and in many respects encouraging, did not have sufficient common ground to suggest that I could take these ideas further with any real hope of success — at least not in the immediate future.
When I addressed the annual delegate conference of the GRA in May this year, I asked the association to consider whether an agreed form of arbitration might be acceptable in principle. I was very pleased when, eventually, all three groups to the dispute agreed to arbitration. Mr. John Horgan, a former chairman of the Labour Court, who acted as chairman, having had separate discussions with each group, arranged for a first meeting of all groups together on 5 October 1995.
Unfortunately the arbitration process also failed. Mr. Horgan reported to me that he was not satisfied he could expect sufficient co-operation from the GRA to address the issues involved. I should say, however, that the GRA denies that they showed an unwillingness to co-operate. I am very disappointed that yet another attempt to bring this deep-rooted and damaging dispute to an end has failed. While I am still convinced that the best approach is to try to bring about by agreement the structural and other changes which would carry the prospect that all gardaí could again have confidence in the GRA, I am now, regrettably, forced to conclude that this is unlikely to be achieved by the parties themselves.
I am sure the House will agree when I say that thousands of gardaí cannot be left in a position where they are effectively without representation in matters of pay and conditions of service. Not only are the interests of individual gardaí not being properly served while this dispute continues but the image of the force as a whole is being seriously eroded. There are now almost 2,500 gardaí who are not contributing membership subscriptions to the GRA and a further 1,000 gardaí in four Garda divisions — Louth-Meath, Cavan-Monaghan, Cork West and Tipperary — who, though members of the association, are not fully participating in the activities of the association. A sizeable number of the 2,500 who are no longer members of the GRA are members of a group known as the Garda Federation. Although this organisation has sought recognition in law to negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of its members, I have not acceded to the request.
Having carefully reviewed the options available to me, I finally decided, following consultation with the Attorney General, to commence the urgent preparation of legislation to bring about, by law, the changes which will ensure that the association representing gardaí is one to which gardaí generally will feel able to give their full support. The legislation will specify certain provisions which the constitution of a Garda representative association must contain in order to be qualified as the representative body with the sole right to negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of members. I believe there will be wide support in the House for this legislation because there is recognition, on all sides, of the need to remove the obstacles which stand in the way of bringing this very damaging representation dispute to an end.
Draft heads of the Bill are, at present, being prepared in my Department and I hope to submit them to Government for approval to draft the Bill shortly. It would be inappropriate for me to give details of the proposed legislation in advance of submitting it to the Government.
Is the Minister saying it is her intention to abolish the Garda Representative Association? Is she in consultation with the parties to the dispute in drawing up this legislation to ensure its provisions will be complied with by all concerned?
I am preparing legislation to incorporate some of the conditions that must be included in the constitution of a Garda representative association. When that legislation is passed any association wishing to represent gardaí in their pay negotiations, welfare and services and is recognised under the 1977 Act must abide by its provisions. It is my hope that will allow for the establishment of an association that will commend itself to all members of the force of the rank of garda.
Is it the Minister's intention to recognise more than one Garda representative association?
Once this legislation has been passed and its provisions enshrined in the constitution of their representative association, there will be one association only representing all members of the force of garda rank in the matter of pay, conditions and welfare services. I do not consider it would be appropriate to have two associations representing gardaí which I believe would lead to a perpetuation of the dispute we witnessed, with competition between the two, perhaps endeavouring to encourage members to submit all sorts of counter claims and so on. It would be more appropriate to have one representative association to which all garda ranks could give allegiance. I wish I did not have to introduce this legislation but my predecessor and I have done everything possible to bring the two sides together without success.
I think it was President Jefferson who said of Chief Justice John Marshall: John Marshall has given his judgment, let him now enforce it if he can. How does the Minister intend, through legislation only, to reconcile the deep differences between the parties to this dispute?
When this legislation has been passed the constitution of the Garda Representative Association may be found not to be in keeping with it, and it will be necessary for the GRA or some members of the Garda Síochána to call a meeting to amend that constitution, or draw up another, that will allow me, as Minister, to recognise such an association. When the legislation has been passed I will have to examine the constitution of the existing Garda Representative Association and, if I discover it does not meet those legislative requirements, its constitution will have to be amended to allow it continue to represent them.
In so doing is the Minister not merely placing a road block further down the road, in that if the Garda Representative Association does not comply with the terms of the legislation, in effect she will be abolishing it?
That will be their choice. I am reluctantly bringing forward legislation to avoid a continuation of 3,500 members of the Garda Síochána being excluded from their representative association. Those who have followed this dispute will readily recognise the efforts made to avoid reaching a point at which legislative changes became imperative. For example, the Garda have the option of getting together and amending the constitution of their representative association to enable all members of garda rank give allegiance to it — even while I prepare this legislation — but I cannot allow this dispute continue any longer.
Have there been consultations on the heads of this Bill with the parties to this dispute? Does the Minister agree it is essential that this bitter, divisive dispute be brought to an end as quickly as possible? When will she be in a position to publish this Bill and brief Opposition Members given that we have been involved throughout this very difficult dispute? In addition, does the Minister consider the fundamental democratic deficit, part of the original dispute — with small units having the same executive representation as larger ones in Dublin — will be resolved by the provisions of this Bill?
It is my intention to ensure that that democratic deficit — which appears to be the road block preventing members reverting to membership of the association — will be tackled. Those problematic issues I identified were: lack of democracy with the GRA, the system of election of officers, the appointment of trustees, the management of standing orders and the need to review the GRA's disciplinary procedures which have given rise to 2,500 members walking away from it. Obviously I cannot brief the Opposition before bringing the heads of the Bill to Government for approval but I will do so as soon as I can. Throughout this process I had many exhaustive, lengthy meetings with all three sides and my officials have been constantly available to meet any of the groups wanting to put any point to them. I have not yet met them in the course of preparation of this legislation but, if I discover there are points needing to be clarified, I will avail of that opportunity to consult them. I know sufficient about this issue to be fully aware of the problems and at this point do not need to spend more time listening to their complaints, having identified them all.