McEntee ‘will not direct’ gardaí on when to work amid roster dispute

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said she will not direct gardaí on where and when they should work, as rank-and-file members prepare to engage in escalating industrial action in a roster dispute.

Members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) have threatened to withdraw their labour if the stand-off with Commissioner Drew Harris over the re-implementation of a pre-Covid roster system is not resolved.

They are planning to decline to work voluntary overtime on the five Tuesdays in October – which will include Halloween and Budget day.

They have also vowed to continue to operate the current roster system of four days on, four days off when the old system is due to come back into effect on November 6th.

If there is no resolution, GRA members have said they will fully withdraw their labour on November 10.

Mr Harris is trying to move to a roster based on gardaí working six days on, with shorter shift times, and four days off.

Asked if she would intervene to resolve the dispute, Ms McEntee said: “I will not direct the Garda Commissioner nor will I direct members as to where or when or how they should be working, because that is essentially what I would be doing in directing the commissioner to not implement a particular type of roster.”

She said that should not be part of the role of the Minister for Justice.

Speaking to RTÉ’s This Week programme, Ms McEntee said the various garda representative organisations are continuing to meet Mr Harris.

She said: “They are all discussing further how do we move forward here, and the only way – whether it’s strike action being threatened, whether it’s lack of overtime, whether it’s people not sitting around the table – the only way this gets resolved is by people actually sitting around the table.”

Asked if the commissioner has lost authority over the disciplined force due to the threatened withdrawal of labour, Ms McEntee said: “We’re not at that stage yet, we still have engagement ongoing.”

She further criticised the GRA’s vote of no confidence in Mr Harris.

Almost 99 per cent of gardaí who voted in a ballot organised by the GRA expressed no confidence in the commissioner.

The minister added: “I thought the decision to personalise it and make a motion of no confidence the subject of the vote instead of a vote on the natural roster or something else was not the right thing to do.”