Shatter urged to fill over 30 superintendent vacancies

ASSOCIATION OF GARDA SUPERINTENDENTS:GARDA SUPERINTENDENTS have urged Minister for Justice Alan Shatter to fill more than 30 vacancies at superintendent rank, saying promotions are badly needed to shore up key positions of control in the force.

The general secretary of the Association of Garda Superintendents, Pat McCabe, said that given the nature and seniority of the role of superintendent it was imperative that at least some of the positions be filled immediately.

“It’s a very important rank,” he said at the association’s annual conference in Athlone, Co Westmeath, yesterday.

“The whole control system of An Garda Síochána, the operational control – we hold that in our hands. And we feel it’s very important that people are promoted to that rank and that we continue to deliver the service that we are delivering at the moment.

“If you examine the role of the superintendent, they have a normal managerial role, they have an operational role and they have a role in terms of legal requirements. So there’s a fairly significant array of functions there and any one of those at any given time can be overlooked if the superintendent isn’t in place.”

Association president Gerard P Smith echoed Supt McCabe’s remarks, saying that if vacancies were not filled, undue added pressure would be put on his members, negatively affecting their “welfare and efficiency”.

He pointed out in his conference address to Mr Shatter that his members had 12 months ago unanimously passed a motion calling for the number of posts vacant at that time to be filled.

Mr Shatter said he had recently secured Cabinet approval for 33 appointments to the senior Garda ranks despite the public-sector recruitment and promotions moratorium. This had included two assistant commissioners, eight chief superintendents and 23 superintendents.

While some officers have already been promoted into those positions, not all 33 approved promotions have gone ahead yet.

Mr Shatter said more of these would follow in the near future. However, he suggested that some of the 30-plus vacancies at superintendent rank may not need to be filled because of reorganisation of the force’s senior posts.

“There is reorganisation going on within An Garda Síochána,” he told the media at the conference.

“The Garda inspectorate is looking at how, in the context of reduced numbers within An Garda Síochána – there’s been a reduction of approximately 800 – as to what are the appropriate positions that should be filled, what changes might be made. I have absolutely no doubt there’s a need to fill some key positions and I would hope we will do that within a very short period of time.”

He did not want to prejudge the work the Garda inspectorate was undertaking, declining to say how many of the 30-plus vacancies would be filled.

Supt McCabe also said his organisation wanted to see changes to the way the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission investigated complaints against gardaí.

He appeared to agree with recent comments by commission members that minor complaints should be referred back to the Garda to be investigated internally, but with commission oversight.

“There is a very competitive, criminal-type approach and process around any complaint; it’s written in law,” said Supt McCabe.

“Most other organisations around the world would have a human resource-type approach to issues and we believe there is a way in which that approach can be taken, but it has to be fairly applied.”