Gardaí won’t back down on refusal to invite chief despite minister’s ‘snub’
McEntee won’t attend GRA event due to Harris absence
THERE will be no U-turn by gardaí over their decision not to invite Commissioner Drew Harris to their upcoming annual conference, the president of the officers’ representative association has said.
In an ongoing row over work rosters and other issues, an invite wasn’t extended to Commissioner Harris for this year’s event, following a 99% no-confidence vote in the force’s chief last September.
Now, Justice Minister Helen McEntee has rowed in behind the Commissioner in solidarity and has declined an invitation to attend the annual conference of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), which takes place next week in Mayo.
Typically, both the Minister for Justice and the Commissioner would attend the event.
Minister McEntee was expected to be there, but has now stated that it would not be appropriate to do so, claiming her presence would undermine the office of the Garda Commissioner.
However, GRA president Brendan O’Connor has said the association would not reconsider its decision to invite the Commissioner to its conference.
In a statement, Mr O’Connor and GRA general secretary Ronan Slevin claimed the minister’s absence shows a ‘clear lack of understanding’ of the issues affecting their members.
‘The invite was sent months ago, yet just six days prior to the conference the minister has informed us that she will not attend,’ the statement said.
‘While we can accept that the minister has a busy schedule, the reasoning for her non-appearance was not a prior, more pressing engagement but instead, a show of solidarity and support for the Garda Commissioner who had not been extended an invitation.
‘Commissioner Harris had not received an invitation to the GRA’s 2024 annual conference as he had lost the support of the GRA membership, shown by the unprecedented vote back in September which returned almost 99% of all GRA members voting no confidence in the Garda Commissioner.’ The GRA leadership said it was the association’s belief that there was a clear separation of powers between the Houses of the Oireachtas and senior Garda management. ‘The minister would have had the opportunity to listen to these concerns firsthand from delegates right across the country, but sadly the minister has decided to decline this invitation and will have to hear of these concerns through the media,’ their statement added.
‘Over the past 12 months, Minister McEntee has publicly stated her belief that the only way to resolve issues was to get parties engaged around a table, yet she has now turned down that opportunity to join the primary platform for issues that face gardaí on the frontline.’
The minister had written to the GRA in recent weeks to formally decline the invitation.
A spokesman for Ms McEntee said: ‘The Minister for Justice has engaged with the GRA in recent weeks and asked them to reconsider inviting the Garda Commissioner to their annual conference. The GRA declined. The minister has made the decision it would not be appropriate to attend the conference.’
The spokesman continued: ‘The minister will continue to engage with the GRA. The minister is absolutely committed to making progress on the issues facing the men and women of An Garda Síochana and to working with the Commissioner and representative groups to deliver a number of important reforms.’
The GRA’s annual conference begins in Westport, Co. Mayo, on Tuesday of next week.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has accused Minister McEntee of ‘snubbing’ the GRA conference.
He told the Dáil this has ‘crystallised the dysfunction at the top of the criminal justice system’. The TD also said he has been told the force ‘is being run like a dictatorship’, and that the morale of gardaí ‘is on the floor’.
In response, Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said ‘There’s a whole background to that situation – it’s not a snub.’
However, Mr Martin added: ‘I don’t see why, generally speaking, a Garda Commissioner
Absence shows ‘lack of understanding’
Decision was ‘not a good move’
shouldn’t be invited. Let’s get back to normal.’
In relation to An Garda Síochána, the Tánaiste said that ‘everything isn’t on the floor, everything isn’t disastrous’.
However, former minister for justice Dermot Ahern said the decision not to invite the Commissioner was ‘not a good move’.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today With Claire Byrne, Mr Ahern said the public want to see the gardaí and the Commissioner working handin-hand. He added that he believes it was the correct decision by Minister McEntee not to attend, given that her ‘direct line was not invited’. It was an invidious position for the current minister, he said.
Mr Ahern did not attend the GRA conference in 2010 because he believed the speech that was due to be delivered was ‘overtly political’, and his position on the matter was agreed by the Cabinet at the time.