Garda representative bodies are believed to be considering a Government request to defer strike pending a Labour Court hearing today.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) are both expected to attend a Labour Court hearing today in what is likely to be the final chance to avert the unprecedented industrial action on Friday.
Gardai are planning to strike for 24-hours on each of the four Fridays in November as part of a dispute over wages and access to industrial relations mechanisms.
Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe last night met the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).
Both groups have rejected pay proposals put forward by the Government in recent days in an attempt to resolve the dispute. The Ministers urged them defer the planned strikes pending the Labour Court hearing.
Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has ordered all members of the force not to take part in the planned strikes and warned protests over pay could “irreparably compromise” the Garda’s authority to police the State.
In an unprecedented intervention in the dispute between gardaí and the Government over pay, Ms O’Sullivan urged those under her command to think of the long-term consequences for Ireland.
She said State security was at risk if Garda members withdrew their service in strikes over pay and conditions which are scheduled to take place this Friday and the remaining three Fridays in November.
Special relationship
Ms O’Sullivan indicated that in the longer term the consequences of the planned strikes were very grave and potentially much more serious, in attacking the special relationship between the public and its police force.
"It will negatively impact on public confidence in An Garda Síochána and jeopardise the respect in which An Garda Síochána and each member of the Garda organisation is held," she said in a letter sent to all gardaí yesterday afternoon.
The commissioner directed all gardaí to be available for work in the 24-hour period of the planned action. She said she was cancelling all leave and all rest days, a development that draws into the protest action all those members set to be resting or on leave.
The order, which was flagged with Ms Fitzgerald in advance, was sent after Ms O’Sullivan met more than 200 senior officers in Dublin yesterday to frame the contingency planning for the strike.
Ms Fitzgerald warned that gardaí who took part in the strike on Friday would have their pay docked and could be held liable for any damages that occurred.
She said each member of the force had taken a “solemn oath” and it was up to each garda to decide if a strike was consistent with that oath.
Mr Donohoe signalled public service workers could have their pay levels restored quicker than had been envisaged up to now.
While Ministers have privately accepted the Lansdowne Road deal was unlikely to survive its full planned duration until September 2018, Mr Donohoe yesterday publicly raised the prospect of a successor deal kicking in before then.
“I will be having negotiations and discussions regarding the duration of the replacement for the Lansdowne Road agreement and other models with union representatives next year.”
Ms Fitzgerald said contingency plans were in place and that the Army would be on standby to aid the civil power of needed.
Other public service trade unions have expressed strong interest in using the offers to the Garda groups in an attempt to avert the strike as a precedent for securing similar increases for their members.
A number of unions are particularly looking at the proposal for the €1,459 new payment for gardaí to attend 15-minute briefings in advance of their shifts.
Civil Public and Services Union general secretary Eoin Ronayne said the union, which represents lower paid civil servants, felt the proposals potentially opened the door to the reversal of the additional, unpaid hours its members have to work at present.
