Mr President, Commissioner, Executive members, delegates, distinguished
guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Introduction
I was delighted to accept your kind invitation to address your annual
conference. It presents me with an opportunity to express my appreciation
to each of you for the work that you are doing in the management of
policing in this country.
Physical security
Individual members of the Garda Síochána, every day, put their lives on
the line for their fellow citizens. The roll of honour of those killed in
the line of duty that we have just seen is a testament to the dangers that
all Gardaí face and we must never forget that. I feel it is appropriate at
this point to remember Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe who was so brutally
and callously murdered in January this year. The Force is deeply
respected by the people of Ireland, having maintained the integrity of the
State since its foundation. In the turmoil that was Europe in the
twentieth century, Ireland had a remarkable achievement. This newly
independent nation - with its newly formed police force – was stable. We
tend now to forget what happened in so much of the rest of Europe; we tend
to take our own record of stability and security for granted. Yet, we could
not have had this without the assuredness, the professionalism, the
determination to put the country first that characterises An Garda
Síochána. You have good reason to be proud.
Financial security
Then there is the other sort of security – financial. Almost every family
in this State has had to shoulder an economic burden which was not of their
making. Grotesquely irresponsible policies of Government expenditure in
the period 2002-2010, put Ireland on a vicious circle of spiralling wages
and spiralling property prices – all fired up by a euro zone low interest
rate regime that was out of sync with Ireland’s needs at the time. Short
term political benefit drove the Government of the time to abandon basic
economic sanity; meanwhile, short term financial benefit drove those in the
managements and board rooms of our banks to throw traditional banking
practices and ordinary prudence to the wind. The country’s financial
security was attacked from within – blown apart by those who had been
trusted to protect it. This was not your fault. It was not my fault. It was
not the fault of the vast majority of people of Ireland. Unfair though it
is, the burden of now restoring our financial security is a task which
falls on you, me and everyone else.
Garda management have the task of managing our physical security. This is
a demanding challenge at the best of times. To have to do this while also
taking on the burden of helping in the management of our financial
security is extraordinarily difficult.
The unavoidable fact is that, as Minister for Justice, in real terms in
2013, I have €162 million less available to me than was available in 2011.
By far the largest part of the Justice budget goes to An Garda Síochána,
being a sum of €1.4 billion in 2013. Under plans published by our
predecessors in Government and agreed with the Troika in 2010, I would have
had €90 million less available to me for An Garda Síochána, for each of
the years, 2012, 2013 and 2014 but fortunately I succeeded in having the
figures recalibrated and these sums restored. My colleagues in Government
and I have taken what we believe to be the fair view – that the horrendous
burden of reducing public expenditure will be borne by everyone in the
public service; no category of personnel is exempt. No one paid out of the
public purse can be singled out for preferential treatment.
We have made a good start to the year on many fronts. The economy is
growing, we are meeting our EU/IMF targets and we are on track to get back
into the markets to allow us to borrow money at competitive rates. The
agreement on the Promissory Note was a particularly key moment for our
emergence from the crisis and the deal achieved by the Minister for Finance
last Friday makes our debt more manageable. The correction of the public
finances will also enhance economic growth prospects and thus support the
environment for job creation – at a time when we have over 400,000 people
who are unemployed we simply must get people back to work as a matter of
urgency.
The Government is acutely aware that the fiscal adjustment to date has been
extremely difficult for everybody. Even though we are now most of the way
through this necessary process the final part of that journey will not be
easy. And I acknowledge that it may be difficult for people to see this
progress if they are struggling themselves financially.
Although there has been significant progress, we remain over-reliant on
borrowing to fund public services and pay people’s wages, pensions and
social welfare benefits. Now, more than ever, there is a greater need to
deliver public services more effectively and efficiently than heretofore.
The reality is that we are now working with reduced numbers and budgets at
a time when demand for services in areas such as health, social welfare,
education and of course policing are actually increasing. Despite reducing
our borrowing, we are still dependent on €12 billion of bailout funding
this year. And we are not just borrowing for past expenditure; we are
borrowing for today’s expenditure. In order for us to continue to do this,
we have to show that we are moving in the right direction, further reducing
our borrowing each year. Any other approach would lead to an impossible
difficulty in borrowing and then inevitably to a very sharp-shock cut in
public spending. This would have severe consequences for every public
servant and for the Irish people in general.
In that scenario, in such an economic Armageddon, social disorder would
almost inevitably spread and the link between financial instability and
social instability would become all too apparent. We can and must avoid
such dangerous times. This means that every area of public expenditure must
demonstrably show savings – including that area for which you and I share
special responsibility… justice.
I want the help of every member of the Garda Síochána to make Ireland a
secure, stable place in which we and our families can plan to live. This
goes further than the practical improvements to policing and public
security. I also want your help in bringing Ireland through this financial
crisis and out the far end.
Members of the Garda Síochána at Superintendent rank provide a key service
in delivering not just the policing services required by society but also
in delivering on the changes in that policing service. You are delivering
that change through the new roster system, through the amalgamation of
Garda Districts and through the modernisation and consolidation of the
Garda station network. These changes are not just for the sake of change
itself but with the clear objective of providing a more efficient and
effective policing service to the entire community. They will lessen
administrative burdens, provide more operational efficiencies and have more
Gardaí on duty when they are needed most. I want to commend you for your
leadership in bringing these projects to fruition. The task involved in
providing leadership and direction in these most difficult times is clearly
understood by Government and, on their behalf, I wish to record my thanks
for your endeavours.
At a time when everyone rightly expects the public service to perform
effectively and efficiently, the Garda Síochána are having significant
success in tackling crime. The most recent CSO recorded crime statistics
show that crime continues to fall in 11 of the 14 categories for which
figures are provided, including homicide, crimes against the person, public
order and damage to property. It is important to point out that, in the
CSO Statistics, the category of Burglary and Related Offences includes
Possession of an Article (with intent to burgle, steal or demand). This is
of course, in reality, a crime prevention figure as the individual has been
apprehended before they have carried out the crime. The number of such
apprehensions has increased by 18.3%. When the CSO figures are further
analysed taking this into account, we see that the number of burglary and
related offences has, in fact, fallen by .14%
In relation to burglaries, we have seen the impact that Operation Fiacla
has had on these most invasive of crimes. The Commissioner set up this
operation to target gangs involved in carrying out burglaries around the
country. As at the end of March, Operation Fiacla has led to 4,546 persons
being arrested and 2,512 persons being charged. The worrying trend in the
increase in the rate of burglaries has been reversed and the perpetrators
are being brought before the courts.
Despite the difficult economic times, we will continue to invest in An
Garda Síochána. We are investing in new fleet vehicles. On the question of
Garda strength, my objective is to ensure that numbers will not fall below
13,000. I have said elsewhere that I intended to shortly bring proposals
on this to Cabinet. Of course, if new members of the Force are to be
recruited I have to ensure the funds exist to pay them. In this context,
unfortunately, the situation that I now face is that there is currently no
new agreement on public pay issues but there is still a projected €300
million budgetary shortfall in 2013. Accordingly, my bringing such
proposal to Cabinet will obviously have to be delayed until such time as
Government has had an opportunity to reflect on how we are to progress
matters.
Revision of the Croke Park Agreement.
The Government's aim in engaging in the recent Croke Park negotiations was
to achieve the necessary €1bn savings in the public sector pay and pensions
bill between now and the end of 2015. This has to be achieved by ensuring a
fair contribution from all.
Since the financial crisis began, the pay cuts in the public service have
been progressive. Public servants on the highest salaries, including
members of the Government, have borne the highest reductions in their pay.
The recent proposals continued that philosophy.
Mr President, I would like to commend your Association’s participation in
the recent talks which were facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission
and which resulted in the set of proposals which were subsequently
rejected by ballot.
It has, however, been brought to my attention that, following completion of
the talks process, there remained two issues of importance to your members
that required clarification. I don’t believe that this is appropriate and
I am going to raise this matter with my Cabinet colleague, the Minister for
Public Expenditure Reform.
I am also sorry that you felt excluded from the process and personally I
feel that this should have not have been the case
I know that negotiations substantially focussed on those public servants
earning less than €65,000 and that ultimately the proposal that emerged in
relation to those earning over €65,000 was a straight percentage reduction
in pay and a freeze in increments. I understand that while during this
process ,an official in my Department kept in contact so that you were kept
informed as to how matters were progressing I am of course conscious. that
there was substantially less engagement with bodies representing those in
the public service whose gross income exceeds €65,000 including your
association.
The Government is now going to reflect on the outcome of the vote and I
believe that this reflection should encompass an examination of the process
itself so that any flaws or defects are identified and rectified to ensure
they are not replicated in any future engagement. Accordingly, I have
asked my officials to examine this matter in the overall context of the
Justice family which includes An Garda Síochána as it is an issue that I
intend to discuss with my Cabinet colleagues.
I believe that the proposals that were recommended by the Labour Relations
Commission were a fair and balanced approach to making a contribution to
addressing the financial difficulties that we are facing. This has
undoubtedly been a difficult process. It is unprecedented to ask public
servants to sign up to an agreement that impacts negatively on their pay
and conditions. They ask the most of those who are highest paid and
protect the core salaries of the 87% of public workers who earn less than
€65,000.
It seems clear now in light of the results that have emerged in the last
number of days that the Public Services Committee of Congress will not
accept the LRC proposals.
Clearly the Government is disappointed at that outcome.
As has been made clear on many occasions by the Government in recent weeks,
a rejection of these proposals does not change the fact – that to conform
to our budgetary targets and continue on our path to economic recovery we
need to make payroll savings of €300m this year and €1bn by 2015.
The Government will reflect on the outcome of the ballot and the manner in
which the required savings can be achieved this year.
Promotions
You will all be aware that I recently have received sanction from the
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for a number of Garda
promotions. This includes four promotions from your own ranks to Chief
Superintendent, and there will also be 14 promotions from Inspector to
Superintendent. I would like to congratulate all those who are on the
promotion panels and wish them well in their new positions. When I
approached the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to explore the
possibility of obtaining an exemption from the moratorium on promotions, I
was mindful of the need of the Commissioner to carefully assess the
capacity available to him at a senior level within An Garda Síochána.
As part of these discussions, a revised Employment Control Framework for
senior ranks in An Garda Síochána has now been finalised. The new levels in
the Force are set at 45 Chief Superintendents and 166 Superintendents. In
practice, this will mean that in future, when vacancies arise, they can be
filled straight away from existing panels rather than seeking any further
sanction.
Conclusion
Mr President, I totally understand the reaction of your members and other
public servants to proposals for a final reduction in the cost of public
pay and pensions. But I would ask everyone to reflect on the realities I
have outlined. We cannot go on spending more that we take in and we cannot
expect others to simply give us funds to indefinitely facilitate our doing
so. That is why the Government must adopt a range of measures to restore
our economic health. These involve measures to increase Government income
as well as measures to reduce Government expenditure. None of these
measures are expected to be popular. The size of the public pay and
pensions bill is such a large part of expenditure, that it must form part
of the solution.
We have now completed a major part of the journey back to regaining our
fiscal sovereignty. We are nearly there, and it is so important for the
public service and the country that we complete the journey as we began it,
in co-operation and agreement.
The Commissioner and his senior management team including yourselves are
doing an outstanding job in difficult circumstances. For my part, I will
continue to do everything in my power, even in these most difficult times,
to ensure that the Garda Síochána have every support possible in terms of
finance, personnel and powers of investigation. And I will continue to
speak out on behalf of the Force, and to recognise the vital work it does
on behalf of the State and its citizens.
Thank you again for inviting me here this evening, and I wish you well with
the remainder of your Conference.