A Garda union is calling for more transparent policies around what it has described as “anonymous complaints and false accusations”.
The Association of Garda Superintendents (AGS) recently commissioned an independent survey of 220 superindependents and chief superintendents, and found that nearly half (48 pc) believed they had been “false allegations causing reputational damage” .
Meanwhile, 33pc claimed they have been vilified on social media.
The union is holding its annual conference today in Kildare where it will voice its concerns to Justice Secretary Helen McEntee.
AGS spokesperson Supt Declan McCarthy said: “It’s not just about high profile policing and events, this is about day-to-day investigations and day-to-day affairs.
“Forty-eight percent of us felt that false accusations had been made against us that caused reputational damage, and 33 percent of us felt we had been vilified on social media.”
Supt McCarthy said their request is to put in place a “robust and transparent policy” for the “anonymous complaints and false allegations”.
“It would be a matter of welfare and a safety issue for us and the mission of our organization is about protecting people and we would like the same courtesy paid to us that we as senior operators in the organization are kept safe, he told RTÉ’s Tomorrow Ireland.
Supt McCarthy said they are also concerned about false allegations being dealt with under the Protected Disclosures Protocol and that they have a “problem with allowances”, which he said were “reduced by 25 percent” in 2009 and, despite commitments, are not have been restored.
Another 1,000 gardaí were announced in the 2023 budget.
Supt McCarthy said that while his union welcomes the move, more needs to be done to future-proof An Garda Síochána.
“Unfortunately, we are constantly adjusting and supplementing the numbers within the organization rather than future-proofing it, and recruiting has to be constant and fast,” he said.
“The extraction rates of the operational coal front, that’s what the public sees there, the men and women sitting in patrol cars and walking on the beats.
“This is what the public is seeing, but the extraction rates from them to the more modern police forces, things like the Divisional Protective Services Units, the armed support, all this extraction comes from that coal front.”
He added: “And unfortunately the public police are affected by that. And even with the recruitment of 1,000 we are trying to get to 15,000, we are struggling to get there and if we get to 15,000 we would be concerned that that number is constantly being maintained.” .”