Gardaí demand pay review and access to 24/7 counselling service
Top Gardaí are today urging the Minister for Justice to take action on their pay and conditions urgently.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors said that it has yet to see a pay review - promised under the Haddington Road Agreement - take place.
The group said that its members are growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of any developments on the issue.
"Some of the main concerns that our membership have are in relation to the failure of the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner to deliver on promises made to our membership," said AGSI vice president Antoinette Cunningham.
"The first of these is in relation to the review that was to be carried out under the Haddington Road Agreement which was due to be complete in June 2014.
"We have had many promises about this review to be carried out, but to date, it still hasn't happened."
The AGSI also claimed that middle-ranking gardaí are being bullied by their superiors and are still facing dangerous one-man patrols.
The group said that young, inexperienced Gardaí are being asked to drive up to 30 miles alone to answer a call.
"The second thing we'd like to do is to ask the Garda Commissioner to please introduce the 24/7 counselling that our members so badly need, and the bullying policy which she has been reviewing for five years within the organisation," she said.
"I think you cannot talk about a transformation agenda in an organisation like the Gardaí unless you give people the basic, necessary welfare rights that they deserve to do their job properly."
