Gardaí have many of the same concerns as the public when it comes to the state of policing in Ireland, according to the GRA.

GRA President Brendan O'Connor joined The Pat Kenny Show this morning after voting closed on the ballot of no confidence in Commissioner Drew Harris.

The vote is a first for the organisation, with the results to be publicly revealed at around 11:30am tomorrow.

The ballot was called after members expressed frustrated over a number of issues – with the ongoing dispute over rosters causing division in the force.

On the show, Mr O'Connor said the ballots are being counted by an independent auditor and the results will be completely confidential.

"We believe that there is quite a lot of interest going by inquiries received at our own offices and people wishing to update their address to ensure they got a ballot," he said.

Electorate

The GRA has almost 11,000 members, and Mr O'Connor said the organisation hopes a majority will cast their vote.

"More than half of our members would actually have indicated [they were voting]," he said.

"To give the result a mandate and authority and to have a full report to inform discussions going forward, it would have to have a significant uptake."

'Bureaucracy and nonsense'

Mr O'Connor said the issue of payment for overtime is just "one of the 1000 things" leading to the "sense of frustration and disillusionment" in the Gardaí.

"[It's] indicative of the bureaucracy and the nonsense that's going on in the Guards at the minute," he said.

"The police service that we once knew and we understood and worked is just simply failing and there's nobody listening.

"The concerns of our members are not that dissimilar from the concerns of the public.

"We're actually asking to be more productive; we're asking to be allowed to do our job, we're asking to do what the public wants [us] to do and the inherent systems are stopping us from performing to our best, so, it's a unique situation."

'Unprecedented move'

The Irish Times security and crime editor, Conor Lally, said he "certainly" thinks the GRA will vote no confidence in Commissioner Harris.

"Really, when we say GRA, what we're talking about is the rank-and-file Guards all over the country, so, it's an unprecedented move that rank-and-file Gardaí would vote no confidence in the Garda Commissioner," he said.

"We haven't been here before and we don't really know what's going to happen next."

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris pictured outside Garda HQ in Phoenix Park. 15/10/2021. Photograph: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Mr Lally said Commissioner Harris will keep his job, regardless of the result of the ballot.

"Having said that, I think it will really sour relations between himself and his workforce," he said.

"I think it's a blow to him. I mean, if I were in his shoes, I would be embarrassed, I'd be angry.

"If it is passed, it will hang over him for the rest of his term."

Mr Lally said Commissioner Harris is trying to "standardise the policing service all over the country" – a point which many Gardaí have expressed grievances over.

"[He] believes that you have to have the admin in place, you have to have the checks and balances in place ... which can be examined then if anything goes wrong," he said.

"He is basically saying that this may be unpopular, and people may not be happy about it, but this is the way a good police force operates in 2023.

"He's certainly not happy with the GRA – having said that, he believes that it's mainly over Garda rosters, and he believes that's the big issue, and he really plans to just carry on in his job after this vote."