The Gardai is facing a new crisis as a number of officers have spoken of the financial difficulties they are facing due to extremely low pay and long working hours.
The news comes as the Garda Review revealed that three newly qualified Garda officers have already resigned from their positions due to low wages, and working conditions. The latest report found that a number of other officers are considering quitting the force because they cannot afford to carry on considering today’s modern living expenses, with many claiming they are being “recruited into poverty”. According to statistics over 24,000 people applied for the garda positions when they were announced in January 2014, but the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has confirmed that three of the elite few who qualified from Templemore have already resigned because they couldn’t afford to live on their low wage.
It is understood that new officers graduating from Templemore are given a starting wage of €23,171, which is significantly less than their colleagues who qualified before the recruitment freeze. One new recruit is quoted as saying he will quit saying they would be better off “stacking shelves in Tesco”. Meanwhile the GRA vice president Ciaran O’Neill said: “The new question is now whether these members will remain within an Garda Siochana with many contending that the ‘two-tier’ pay structure has ‘recruited them into poverty’. “From the new entrants, three have resigned so far. All are citing financial reasons, it is unprecedented. They have all gone to better-paid jobs.”
It has been said conditions have become so bad that one 25-year-old told the magazine that he had been forced to apply for family income supplement from the Social Welfare “because we earn so little”. The struggling Garda explained: “I cannot afford medical aid or any other health insurance, and we need some kind of insurance in this job.”
Meanwhile another newly qualified officer told the magazine of his struggles, saying although he dreamed of being a garda for the majority of his life he is now considering leaving the force because he cannot live on his current wage.
The officer revealed he had been forced to live on just €100 a week for groceries after after paying all his bills. The annoyed officer explained: “I may have to abandon my dream job and find another job due to the circumstances that have arisen from pay-scale, rent allowance and taxation issues.” Angry officers also spoke of how they were being stationed many miles from their homes and how they are struggling to pay for transport.
One officer said: “I live in Clonmel and commute 220 km in total everyday to Wexford. It’s an hour and a half journey each way; so on top of a 10 hour shift I’m driving for three hours. “This is costing over €100 per week in diesel which is a lot considering the wages we are on. Also being away from home for 13 hours a day means that during the six working days I barely see my son.”
Source: Independent.ie