GRA vote of no confidence in Harris passes by overwhelming majority

Updated / Wednesday, 13 Sep 2023 13:55

By Paul Reynolds

Crime Correspondent

An overwhelming majority of Garda Representative Association members have voted no confidence in Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

Nearly 11,000 ballot papers were sent out to rank and file gardaí.

The vote of no confidence was passed by 98.7% in favour to 1.3% against.

The result may have been expected but the GRA said it was shocked by the margin.

The GRA said the outcome vindicated the decision to hold the vote and declared it a very sad day for policing.

It also insisted it was not personal against Mr Harris.

The GRA also said the Government now needs to intervene and criticised the Minister for Justice for not meeting them since her return in June.

The GRA described this as a pivotal moment, the first ever vote of no confidence in a Garda Commissioner in the organisation’s 100 year history. It said members will inform it as to the next step at its special delegate conference in two weeks’ time.

GRA Secretary General Ronan Slevin said it was not up to the association to decide the fate of the commissioner, but it was obvious that members were “deeply unhappy with the commissioner at the helm” of the force.

He said the ballot was carried out because the GRA had been raising several issues with Commissioner Harris and senior management over the last number of months and years, including issues around training, recruitment and retention.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mr Slevin said the last straw was the proposed change to rosters, which is set for 6 November.

The commissioner has already described the vote as something he should not have been subjected to and insists that he will not resign, regardless of the result.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said Mr Harris has the full support of the Government.

A spokesperson said the minister believes the commissioner’s leadership and commitment is evident in the “significant progress being made across a range of areas, including tackling organised crime, domestic abuse and many other issues”.

The spokesperson added that the minister regularly engages with frontline gardaí across the country, knows how difficult their jobs are and has discussed their issues of concern with them.

“The minister has consistently said that while it is entirely legitimate for any staff associations to raise issues of concern, a personalised ballot would not resolve any such issues, nor has it done so.

“The decision of the GRA executive to pursue such a ballot was therefore regrettable.”

Mr Harris has described the vote as extraordinary, unnecessary, not something he should have been subjected to and not something which will resolve the issues of disagreement.

These issues include recruitment, retention, suspensions, discipline, bureaucracy and claims by the GRA that the commissioner refuses to accept that morale is low or engage on health and wellbeing.

However, Garda Superintendents say the commissioner is very strong and progressive on welfare.

They said he has set up wellness programmes and wellness days for Superintendents and Association President Seamus Nolan has specifically singled out Mr Harris for praise in his speech to the Garda Superintendents conference.

The GRA also described a dispute about gardaí returning to a pre-pandemic roster, which requires them to work six days in a row instead of the current four days, as “the last straw”.

However, Commissioner Harris has rejected the GRA’s claims and said the roster dispute can be resolved at the Workplace Relations Commission.

He also insists that as a policeman and not a politician, his performance is measured not by a vote, but by the efficiency and effectiveness of his leadership of An Garda Síochána.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister McEntee have expressed confidence in the Garda Commissioner and while a “no vote” is unlikely to have any direct consequences here, it comes against the backdrop of the resignation of PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne.

Mr Byrne also received a vote of no confidence from rank and file, and middle-ranking police in Northern Ireland.

The Garda Senior Management Team has restated its full confidence in the Garda Commissioner.

The leadership team, which comprises deputy and assistant commissioners, along with the organisation’s executive directors this morning circulated a message to all garda members re-iterating “its united support and confidence in Commissioner Harris’ professional and fair leadership of An Garda Síochána.”

The executive said “the commissioner’s commitment to the welfare of garda personnel, to protecting communities, and keeping the public and the State safe is evident from the many improvements introduced over the last five years with the co-operation of members of An Garda Síochána and garda staff.”

It also said that “from his first day in the role, Commissioner Harris has continually emphasised the importance of An Garda Síochána maintaining its proud tradition of community-focused policing.”

The Garda Senior Leadership Team meets weekly, with Mr Harris, to discuss and decide on a range of organisational and operational matters.

Superintendents Conference

The commissioner and the minister are due to attend the Garda Superintendents conference in Co Kildare this afternoon.

Senior officers are also concerned about recruitment and said the organisation is “creaking from the absence of a coherent and realistic personnel recruitment stream”.

Supt Nolan said it is not lost on them that the increase in the country’s population is being addressed by an increase in elected public representatives in the wake of the current review by the electoral commission.

He has called on Minister McEntee to “recruit forward, not retrospectively”.

He pointed to a crisis in the Garda Band and claims “the dissolution of our proud flagship, the ever reliable face of community engagement, (is) happening before our eyes”.

The superintendents described the band as “the envy of innumerable police organisations worldwide,” adding that “their place in Irish society is cemented in their unique identity, their affinity with the wider public and the communities”.

However, they said it is badly affected by the recruitment failings, is only at “half strength,” is in danger of being unable to operate and is “irreplaceable”.

The superintendents also said that while many of the issues cited as being crisis situations are caused by political decision making, in the absence of consideration of policing consequences or public concern, it is gardaí who are called upon to address the fallout and the public outcries.

“An Garda Síochána is being incessantly held to account for societal issues which have been created and exasperated by Government policy and local political decisions,” Supt Nolan said.

Garda superintendents complain that they must pay for travel and subsistence including motor fuel and accommodation costs out of their own pockets in an increasingly inflated marketplace without being appropriately recompensed.

They claim they are continuing to spend about twice what they can recover.

They also said the current operating model is diluting resources “beyond breaking point” without adequate financial, accommodation or personnel and they are also calling for “an actual policing presence” on the new board the Government plans to introduce.