Case Explained: Gardaí in white-collar crime agency want out over ‘toxic work culture’ – Legal Perspective

More than half of gardaí assigned to the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) are seeking to leave amid reports of a ‘toxic work culture’, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard yesterday, writes Jamie McCarron.

Gardaí on secondment to the CEA are specialised officers tasked with investigating complex white-collar crime, breaches of company law and searching premises.

The committee heard that while the CEA can be assigned up to 16 gardaí for this work, it now has only eight, five of whom are seeking to be transferred, while one is on maternity leave.

This comes after four gardaí left the organisation in acrimonious circumstances last year.

PAC members said white-collar criminals “must be delighted at the dysfunction” at the corporate watchdog, which is “at crisis point”.

In May, four detectives were sent back to An Garda Síochána after the CEA’s chief executive, Ian Drennan, ended their secondments.

Yesterday, Mr Drennan admitted to the PAC there have been “tensions” between gardaí and management going back several years.

He blamed the secondment arrangement which he said meant gardaí were “serving two masters”.

The authority’s latest annual report blamed an “unprecedented unwillingness to accept decisions” as the reason for the four dismissals.

It also stated that “a number of arguments” had taken place with gardaí assigned to the CEA about the authority’s governance, accountability, and oversight of them.

Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne told the committee that media publicity about tensions between the CEA and gardaí had overshadowed the authority’s work.

“I take no pleasure in stating that nearly everything I’ve read on you is negative,” she said.

“Arguing with and distrusting gardaí seconded to assist your investigations, staff complaints of a toxic work environment. Your staff survey score of ‘A Great Place to Work’ was just 54%, which is well below the public sector average…

“It pains me to say that white collar criminals have to be delighted at the dysfunction that seems to be there.”

Mr Drennan said that issues had arisen last year at to whether the CEA had a supervisory remit over seconded gardaí, and that after getting legal advice it was confirmed that the CEA did have this remit.

He claimed that “like any organisation”, gardaí at the CEA were seeking transfers for personal reasons or to seek promotion elsewhere.

He added that the authority had a good relationship with gardaí at a corporate level but there were “residual tensions” with gardaí in the CEA and said, “we’re working through that as well”.

Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe, said the fact that more than half of the gardaí now at the CEA were seeking to transfer “doesn’t point to a good relationship”.

Fine Gael TD James Geoghegan asked: “How can this organisation carry out its criminal enforcement responsibilities with a bare-bone level of gardaí?”

Mr Drennan responded: “Particularly at An Garda Síochána, where there are 15,000 jobs, people move around all the time.

“They look for transfer for various personal reasons. I don’t accept for a moment that it’s a crisis, I see it as an opportunity.”

The authority’s director of governance and support, Suzanne Young, claimed that despite adverse media coverage, the working culture was positive.

“There’s a wide gulf between what I experience and my colleagues experience, and what has been in the media,” she said, adding that only three civilian staff out of 90 are seeking a transfer.