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Dunmanway native new president of Garda Representative Association
Dublin-based Garda Damien McCarthy, from Dunmanway, who has become the youngest person to be elected president of the Garda Representative Association.
THE newly-elected leader of rank-and-file gardai throughout the state this week pledged to bring his own unique style to representing his members.
Garda pay and conditions, the lifting of the recruitment embargo and new legislation to curb random attacks on gardai are high on the priority list of Damien McCarthy, a native of Dunmanway, who took over as president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) last Wednesday.
Mr McCarthy told The Southern Star on Tuesday that he was energised and “fully committed” to working on behalf of GRA members for the duration of his two-year term.
At 32, he is the youngest ever GRA president, which reflects the fact that most of the force is young – 60 per cent of gardai have just ten years’ service or less.
Mr McCarthy met with Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, a native of Timoleague, on Friday morning. He said that there had been a lot of speculation in the media regarding the nature of the meeting, but stressed that it was just a normal meeting between the two men.
Mr McCarthy’s election came in the wake of controversial remarks made by his predecessor, Michael O’Boyce. Mr O’Boyce claimed in a speech, written but not delivered, that the Fianna Fail Party had been ‘bought’ by bankers and speculators and in return it had sacrificed the prosperity of the nation for the benefit of the few. He also described the Government as ‘national saboteurs’ and said it had been corrupted by years of power and its only agenda was to protect economic traitors.
Justice Minister Dermot Ahern decided not to attend the GRA’s annual conference in Limerick last week.
His officials told the GRA he was withdrawing because of the tone of a speech, given to Mr Ahern in advance, by Mr O’Boyce that was to be addressed to Mr Ahern.
In a subsequent statement, the Minister said while pay cuts had been difficult for gardaí and other public servants, the entire country was experiencing financial hardship.
He had been extremely disappointed and dismayed by Mr O’Boyce’s planned remarks, which had amounted to an unprecedented political intervention by a garda representative and had no place in a modern democracy.
Mr McCarthy said this week that the main issue he was concerned with was the establishment of a mechanism to allow gardai to discuss their pay and conditions directly with their employer, the Minister for Justice and his senior officials. The gardai do not have a trade union and have been excluded from the main talks on pay and conditions, he said.
Other forces throughout Europe can discuss their pay and conditions with their employers. The PSNI, for example, can discuss such matters with the Home Office in London, said Mr McCarthy.
The ban on recruiting new gardai is also high on his agenda. More than 800 gardai have retired during the past 12 months, so there is a real need for the lifting of the recruitment ban on gardai.
“I know we are in the middle of a recession, but crime skyrockets during recession times, so the number one priority has to be to recruit sufficient gardai,” he said.
The GRA has sought a detailed survey of the force, which has 11,000 members at present, to determine the proper strength of the force. “We feel that numbers are down at present, given the large number of gardai who have retired.”
The GRA also wants to see the introduction of legislation to curb the alarming number of attacks on gardai. Figures show that two gardai are assaulted in the state every day.
Specific legislation, carrying a 12-year prison sentence, needs to be introduced in an effort to curb such unwarranted attacks on gardai.
Mr McCarthy is a native of Dunmanway and is a brother of Senator Michael McCarthy. He is a garda based at Harcourt Terrace in Dublin since 2002 and, before that, he was stationed at Fitzgibbon Street station.