Seven-year suspension
‘Scandal’ of gardaí suspended from duty as they await disciplinary action
TWO of the 25 members of the Garda Síochána currently suspended from duty have been suspended for the past seven years.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the Garda Representative Association described the seven-year delay in disciplinary proceedings as ‘nothing short of scandalous’.
In a letter to People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett on foot of a Dáil question, Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has confirmed that one Garda sergeant has been suspended from duty since March 9, 2010, and one Garda has been suspended since June 29, 2010.
Ms Fitzgerald also revealed that a prison officer had been suspended from duty on full pay since July 8, 2010, and had been paid €320,661 in salary to date.
The Tánaiste confirmed that a further three gardaí had been suspended since 2012 with two more gardaí and a sergeant suspended since 2013.
A further two gardaí and a reserve garda had been suspended since 2014, with another six gardaí suspended since 2015.
Last year, another four rank-andfile gardaí were suspended from duty along with one reserve garda and a sergeant. A further two gardaí have been suspended this year.
The amount paid out to the suspended gardaí since their suspensions from 2010 to February this year is estimated to be between €1.3million and €2million.
The estimate is based on published Garda pay scales and the suspended gardaí receiving 75% of their pay – though from January 31 of this year, suspended gardaí remain on full basic pay after lobbying from the GRA.
A spokesman for the GRA yesterday described the situation in which one garda had been suspended for the past seven years as ‘nothing short of scandalous’.
He said: ‘Delay defeats equity and there is no greater example than a seven-year delay which does a disservice not just to the member and his family but to the disciplinary mechanisms of the entire force.’
He said: ‘Such delays are entirely avoidable if the basic rules of fairness and natural justice are adhered to as well as normative employment practices – as would be the case in any organisation.’
The spokesman said that the GRA negotiated that its suspended members be in receipt of full payment of their salary ‘because many of our suspended members were suffering undue financial hardship due to the inordinate delays it was and is taking to complete internal disciplinary investigations’.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said: ‘A person is entitled to due process, presumed innocent until proven guilty and therefore can’t be punished by removing pay pending the outcome of an investigation.’
Last night the Garda Press Office was still awaiting a response from the relevant Garda department to queries on the figures and for a response to the GRA statement.