merrion street

Mr President, distinguished guests, delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak at your conference.  I have followed your conference discussions with interest and I am pleased to have this opportunity to respond to some of the issues raised by you and by your members.

It also gives me an opportunity to acknowledge the hugely important service that you and all of your colleagues in the Garda Síochána provide to the public. You do vital work on their behalf, confronting criminals and making our streets safe. Much of what you achieve gets little public acknowledgment. In this context, I want to congratulate Sergeant John Hynes on his award yesterday for the outstanding work he did in bringing to justice the parents who subjected their children to appalling and horrific abuse in Roscommon.

Your work is difficult, and at times dangerous.  And we have been reminded in recent days of the ultimate danger police can face by the brutal murder of PSNI Constable Ronan Kerr.  Mr President, I totally support your comments on this.  Ronan Kerr’s murder was an act of terrorism.  It was part of a campaign of violence aimed at undermining the peace which has come to the North and to this island as a whole – a campaign by a small group who reject the Good Friday Agreement, even though it has been democratically approved by the people North and South.  As part of that campaign, they aim to deter people from the nationalist community from joining the PSNI by any means, including murder, so that they can then, with depraved cynicism, turn around and criticise the PSNI for being unrepresentative.

But they will not succeed.  The changes which have occurred in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement should leave no one in any doubt that the interests of all citizens, in both parts of this island, lie in support for the police and the institutions established there.  Co-operation between North and South, and co-operation between the Garda Síochána and the PSNI, is here to stay.  No one, especially those who defy the democratic commitment of the vast majority on this island to the peace process, will be allowed to derail that co-operation.  They only make us even more determined to continue and enhance it.

Mr President, a key part of your address dealt with pay.  I know the importance of this issue to your members and to public servants in general.  I want to see members of the Garda Síochána properly paid for their work.  In fact, average Garda pay has been consistently higher than average pay in the public sector.  But of course I recognise that the reductions in public service pay have been painful.  Unfortunately, given the reality of our financial and economic circumstances, they have been unavoidable.

In the national debate on this, the banking crisis has dominated the headlines for entirely understandable reasons. And I have heard what you had to say, Mr President, about the banks and bankers’ bonuses.  What I can say is that this Government’s policy on rebuilding the banks has been very clearly set out by the Minister for Finance.  And on the question of bonuses, the recent Finance Act has put in place a tax of 90% on bank bonuses over a certain threshold.  In addition, the Minister for Finance now has powers under the Act to make future financial aid to a bank conditional on non-payment of bonuses, as has been done in the case of AIB.

Your members, like me, are rightly infuriated by the revelation of the retirement package paid late last year to a former AIB Managing Director.  It defies belief that at a  time when our banks were on public life support as a consequence of bad management, flawed judgements and indefensible practices that a retirement package to the reported value of €3 million could be implemented to benefit a retiring senior executive.  Despite everything we now know it seems that bad judgement, hubris and greed are still alive and well.  Those responsible for the banking debacle should hang their heads in shame.  It is long past the time for a public acknowledgement of the gross immorality of demands made for excessive retirement rewards.  No one should expect Irish taxpayers to carry an ever increasing burden to facilitate retiring bank executives lead lives of unjustified luxury.

Unfortunately it seems that the unreality which dominated bankers boardrooms over the past decade continues to infect the expectations of those who long ago should have vacated their positions.  Those responsible for where we are now should be held accountable not rewarded for their scandalous failings.  Financial compensation sought or demanded for early retirement may not be criminal but it is grossly immoral.

We do, of course, have to recognise that the collapse of the property boom has also left us with a major public finance problem, as revenues associated with construction, directly and indirectly, have shrunk drastically. Even if not a cent of taxpayers money was ever spent on banks, we would still have a major job to do in bringing revenue and spending into line again.

We simply must close the huge gap between ordinary Government income and expenditure, which this year will be around €18 billion.  That figure shows that, despite all of the tough measures taken so far, we are a long way from restoring our public finances.  Further steps will be needed to reduce the deficit to a sustainable level.  That is vital not just for the recovery of the economy, but for our continued capacity to fund public services.

The recent comments by Ministers on pay have made very clear that we do not want to see further pay reductions.  But there are very specific annual public expenditure savings targets which must be achieved under the agreement with the EU and the IMF.  The question of any further adjustment to the public service wage bill only arises under the agreement if, and I emphasise the word “if”, there is a shortfall in projected savings from public service numbers reductions and administrative efficiencies.  So far the good news, as the recent review by the EU and the IMF showed, is that we are on target.  But to stay on target we need to work together on reform and make the public service leaner and more efficient.

The Croke Park Agreement will play a key role in this.  This Agreement, to which your association is a party, holds out the prospect of real and meaningful reform right across the public service, including the Garda Síochána.  As you know, there is a Garda action plan which has been drawn up under the Croke Park Agreement.  This will see changes in areas such as Garda rosters, with a better match between resources and peak demands, and Garda compensation, with quicker compensation for injured Garda members but a big reduction in legal costs.  These can be win-win changes that make a positive difference not only to the Garda Síochána and the service it delivers to the public, but to you individually as members.  I look forward to early implementation of this agenda, and I want to acknowledge the constructive approach of the AGSI in the process.

Another area of reform - where real improvements can be made – is reform of the law.  I have heard what you said, Mr President, about the selection of coroner juries.  As it happens, draft legislation on coroners is currently being advanced, and I will certainly consider any suggestions you may have on this.  More generally, I want to see the Garda Síochána get the legislative powers of investigation it needs to investigate serious crime.

I have long thought, for example, that the Garda Síochána should have available to it a DNA database, and I am going to make the legislation for this one of my top priorities.  I am also going to be publishing very soon a Bill on white collar crime, which will significantly enhance Garda powers of investigation, complementing the additional staffing resources recently allocated to the Bureau of Fraud Investigation.

I also see great potential for enhanced international police co-operation in the prevention and investigation of crime.  We have to recognise that the ever-increasing openness of our borders cannot be allowed to work to the benefit of terrorists and criminal gangs.  Given the growing international nature of serious crime we must take advantage of the opportunities presented by information sharing with our EU and other international partners to support the fight against crime and to maximise the safety and security of all citizens.

One such measure is the proposal to share information on air passengers in order to support the fight against serious crime and terrorism.  The proposal will oblige airlines to send directly to the Gardaí details of passengers on flights coming into Ireland from outside the EU and, ultimately, passengers on internal EU flights.  You will also be able to share this information with your EU counterparts in the context of investigations into drug smugglers or human trafficking, for example, or for trend analysis.

I discussed this proposal with my EU Justice and Home Affairs colleagues last week in Luxembourg.  I made clear Ireland’s general support for this measure, and indeed for other EU measures, as an important potential tool for countering the activities of organised criminals and terrorists, and for improving security in the EU.  I also indicated Ireland’s support for the inclusion of internal EU flights in the measure, an approach which, I should say, was supported by the majority of others around the table. The Dáil yesterday approved my proposal to participate in this measure and I anticipate that the Seanad will give similar approval to the measure this afternoon.

I think it almost goes without saying that given the nature of serious, organised crime – such as trafficking in drugs, firearms and people – and the particular phenomenon of international terrorism, close and ongoing co-operation between law enforcement and security services is fundamental if the international community is to face down these threats.

Another development which I discussed with my EU colleagues last week was a set of EU Council Decisions which provide for the exchange of vehicle registration details, as well as fingerprint and DNA - related data.  These instruments, which Ireland is in the process of implementing, will allow police officers who are conducting investigations to obtain vital information from other EU Member States very quickly.  The Garda Síochána already has a world-class fingerprint system, and this will be linked to the systems of our EU partners.  In the case of the exchange of DNA records, it will obviously be necessary for us to establish our DNA database, and the huge potential of this exchange system gives added urgency to that project.

Turning back to domestic issues, Mr President, you also raised the issue of how best to investigate allegations of bullying and harassment, and what review or appeal process there might be.  I know this is an important issue for your members.  I understand that a review of the Garda Síochána’s Bullying and Harassment Policy is nearing completion, and I look forward to seeing the results of that review, and in particular any proposals it may make on addressing the issues you have raised.

Another important issue raised by you, Mr President, is the availability of specialist services from the HSE at barricade incidents. Since the tragic events at Abbeylara, and a subsequent report by the Garda Inspectorate, it has been recognised that expert medical advice should be available to the Garda Síochána in these difficult situations. I am glad to say that, with effect from January of this year, a formal arrangement has been put in place between the HSE and the Garda Síochána for the provision of the services of forensic psychiatrists to Garda members dealing with such incidents.  This is a good development, and I want to thank everyone involved for their work on this.

Mr President, these are some initial reactions to some of the issues you raised in your remarks.  I hope that this is the start of a dialogue between us.  Sergeants and Inspectors play a crucial role in the management and supervision of frontline policing in this country.  You provide a vital input into both the planning and the delivery of an effective policing service. So I want to listen to your concerns.  I want to hear your views on how things are going, and where things could be done better.

These are very difficult times.  We are facing unprecedented economic challenges.  But this Government is committed to taking the necessary action to restore our public finances and secure our public services, especially frontline services such as policing.  As part of that process, the Garda Síochána will have my full support in implementing reform, and I look forward to working with you on this.

Can I thank you once again for inviting me here today and giving me the chance to speak to you.  I hope you have had a very successful conference, and I look forward to working with you in the times ahead.