Union opposes moves to ‘conscript’ civilian staff into Garda

Proposed Government policing reforms would see civilian personnel lose their status as civil servants and be effectively "conscripted" into An Garda Síochána, the trade union Fórsa has said.

The union said legislation published this month “would strip civilians working in the police service of their civil service employee status and make them direct employees of An Garda Síochána instead”.

It said it would “resist conscription of civilians into An Garda Síochána”, arguing that the plans could affect the terms and conditions of its members and have implications for their Civil Service promotion prospects.

There are also concerns under the proposals that civilian staff would in future come within the remit of a new policing complaints body to succeed the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

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The union said it had written to Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath “demanding full consultation before the legislation proceeds”.

"The proposed legislation would see non-sworn personnel stripped of their civil service status and recruited directly into An Garda Síochána," Fórsa official Thomas Cowman said.

“We have seen no rationale for this fundamental change. We oppose it as a matter of principle and we deplore the complete lack of engagement and consultation on this significant change.”

The Department of Justice said that last month that the Cabinet had approved the drafting of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, which was committed to in the programme for government.

It said this was developed on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (CoFPI) following its fundamental review in 2017-2018.

“A central tenet of the CoFPI report is that An Garda Síochána should be seen and treated as a single organisation with a single workforce. To support this CoFPI recommended that non-sworn members (i.e. Garda staff) should be recruited directly to An Garda Síochána, not to the general Civil Service, and should be treated as valued members of a single Garda workforce with a shared mission,” it said.

“The scheme gives effect to this recommendation by providing for the Garda Commissioner to recruit and appoint Garda staff in accordance with the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004. Under the scheme, the Minister may also designate by order that existing civil servants within An Garda Síochána will change status, but only after engagement with trade unions and staff associations. “

The department said that no changes to the status of existing Garda staff would take place solely as a result of the enactment of the proposed legislation. It said an order of the Minister would be required before any designation changing the civil servant status of existing Garda staff may be made.

“The Minister must engage with any trade union or staff association concerned and consider any representations made by them. The scheme provides further reassurances with regard to the terms and conditions of existing Garda staff prior to any agreement being reached with relevant unions or associations.”

The department said it had offered to meet trade unions to brief them on the legislation and remained available to do so.