Aughey v Attorney General
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Judge | WALSH J. |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1989 |
| Neutral Citation | 1988 WJSC-SC 880 |
| Docket Number | (302/85) |
| Court | Supreme Court |
| Date | 01 January 1989 |
1988 WJSC-SC 880
THE SUPREME COURT
JUDGMENT delivered on the 13th day of May 1988by WALSH J.
The plaintiffs, who number approximately 900, are officers in the Detective branch of the Garda Siochana. There are two representative bodies in the Garda Siochana, one of which is named the Garda Representative Association and the other the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors. The plaintiffs are all members of one or other of these representative bodies depending on their rank. They are dissatisfied with the representation they receive from these bodies on the grounds that Detectives are vastly out-numbered by the non-Detective members of the Garda Siochana and,therefore, that they are not sufficiently numerous to successfully put forward and to carry any resolution affecting the special interests of members of the Detective members of the Garda Siochana. They claim that they should be permitted to have a separate representative body representing them as distinct from all other members of the GardaSiochana.
The Commissioner of the Garda Siochana who is the person having the power under the current statutory regulations to decide whether any such a representative body should be permitted to be formed has refused to allow the formation of any such representative body. The plaintiffs also claim that they as Detective officers constitute a "rank" of the Garda Siochana, and that therefore they are entitled under the relevant statutory provisions to ask to have a representative body to cater exclusively for them. The relevant statutory provision is s. 1 of the Garda Siochana Act of 1977and reads as follows:-
2 "1.-(1) The Garda Siochana Act, 1924, ishereby amended by the substitution for section 13 of the followingsection:
2 "13.-(1) For the purpose of representing members of the Garda Siochana in all matters affecting their welfare and efficiency, there may be established, in accordance with regulations to be made under the Garda Siochana Acts, 1923 to 1977, an association or associations for all or any one or more of the ranks of the Garda Siochana below the rank of Surgeon.
(2) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, every association established pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall be independent of and unassociated with any body or person outside the Garda Siochana.
(3) It shall not be lawful for a member of the Garda Siochana to be or become a member of any trade union or of any association other than an association established under this section of which the objects or one of the objects are or is to control or influence the pay, pensions or conditions of service of any police force.
(4) If any question arises whether any body or association is a trade union or association to which this section applies, the question shall be determined by the Minister whose decision shall be final.
(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, the Minister may, from time to time, authorise an association established under this section to be associated with a person or body outside the Garda Siochana in such cases and in such manner and subject to such conditions and restrictions as he may specify and the Minister may vary or withdraw any such authorisation."
(2) This section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister may by order appoint."
In short they claim that the provisions of the Act of 1977 infringe their rights as citizens to form associations and unions as guaranteed by Article 40, section 6, subsection 1(iii).
Following the established practice of this Court the first step which must be taken is to construe the section in question. The section inquestion is a post-Constitution legislative provision even though it repeats and incorporates provisions of a pre-Constitution statute namely, the Garda Siochana Act, 1924.
Only post-Constitution legislation can give effect to a permitted statutory qualification upon any right guaranteed or granted by theConstitution.
The statutory provision directs the establishment according to the regulations made under the Act of "an association or associations for all or any or more of the ranks of the Garda Siochana below the rank of Surgeon". The two existing representative bodies were established to cater for the ranks referred to in the statutory provision. One of these, the Garda Representative Body, caters for all members of the Garda Siochana below the rank of Sergeant. The second one, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors caters for those ranks. The first question to be resolved is whether the plaintiffs come within one or other of those ranks although they are Detectives.
It has been submitted on behalf of the plaintiffs that "Detective officer" itself constitutes a rank because such an officer's functions, duties and operational methods are different from those of other members of the Garda Siochana. All the evidence available in this case indicates the contrary. It is clear from an examination of the structure of the Garda Siochana as a police force that a Detective officer below the rank of Sergeant...
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