Kerry Gardaí have a ‘robust’ plan should strikes go ahead

KERRY Garda Chief Superintendent Con Cadogan says the a “robust plan” is in place should threatened garda strikes go ahead.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) have called off three days of planned strike action this month pending the outcome of a ballot on a new pay deal offered by the Government.

However, if GRA members – and members of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) – reject the deal offered in the Labour Court there is a risk that strikes could be back on the agenda.

If last Friday’s threatened strike had gone ahead just 12 gardaí – the Chief Superintendent; three superintendents and eight probationer gardaí – would have been available to police the entire county. Tralee Garda Station was also due to be the only garda station in Kerry open.

While the GRA had ordered members of its specialist serious crime and national security units to report for work as normal most of these are based in the major cities and they would have been of little assistance in dealing with the typical day to day policing needs of Kerry.

Despite the lack of available resources Chief Supt Cadogan told last Monday’s Kerry Joint Policing Committee meeting that a “robust” contingency plan had been put in place to deal with the fallout from the strike.

“I don’t want to go into it in too much detail as I don’t want to give away any trade secrets but we had a comprehensive and robust place in place,” he said.

“We were ready to put all the resources we had out on the streets and I can assure the public that the security of the county would have been well catered for,” Chief Supt Cadogan said.

The GRA’s 10,500 members will be balloted on the Labour Court’s pay deal from November 14 with the result due back on the 28. The AGSI is also to ballot its members in the coming weeks.

Kerry Garda Chief Superintendent Con Cadogan