Speech withdrawn as sense of fairness – GRA
FORMER leader of the opposition Michael Noonan believes that Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern would have been better attending the GRA conference in Limerick this week to maintain his relationship with the Gardaí.
“It would have been better for the Minister to have attended the conference as he needs to have a continued good relationship with the Gardaí,” said Deputy Noonan.
He was commenting following Minister Ahern’s withdrawal from the conference.
“You always have a bit of theatre at these things as we saw with Minister Coughlan at the teachers’ conference. They will take the opportunity to have a go but you have to sit down and take it regardless of your personal feelings”.
A spokesperson from the GRA told this newspaper, “If the Minister had attended the conference there wouldn’t have been the same reaction in the media. He would have had an opportunity to respond to the speech”.
The Minister withdrew from attending following the release of GRA President Michael O’Boyce’s address which the GRA say was hard-hitting in order to reflect the anger and disillusionment within the force.
Commenting on the speech Deputy Noonan said, “I don’t think they were implying that corruption exists, they were using figures of speech to express that they are finding it very hard at present”.
In response to the GRA’s suggestion that rank and file members of the Gardaí may be susceptible to corruption he said, “The young guards that I know aren’t going to be corrupt, they are decent and honourable young men.
“The concept applies to a very small minority within the force, “I could see what he was getting at because there are a lot of young Gardaí with families and mortgages who are under pressure”.
Describing his fellow Limerick TD, Niall Collins’s calls for Mr O’Boyce to be removed from the Gardaí as “extreme”, he said:
“It’s very extreme to be calling for his resignation, we need a bit of freedom of speech”.
Speaking on national radio Niall Collins said that he was extremely disappointed with the GRA President’s remarks about the government and believes that someone working for the Gardaí should not cross the line into the political arena.
The GRA points out that their annual conference with the theme, “Angry, Betrayed and Disillusioned” was their only opportunity to express issues, as they are not officially a union.
Such an issue raised at the conference was the lifting of the ban on Gardaí obtaining certain part-time jobs.
They are also demanding a reversal of the pay cuts and pension levies and the right to negotiate directly with their employer.
Garda Representative Association president Michael O’Boyce gets a standing ovation from the room for his courage in representing the views at the GRA at the national conference in the Strand Hotel, Limerick this Tuesday.
Photo: Brian Arthur/ Press 22.
