Garda Representative Association to press ahead with strike

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has said it intends to press ahead with strike action this Friday.

The group which represents 10,500 rank and file officers indicated action planned for this and every Friday in November would proceed unless “we hear of substantial and significant progress towards real and tangible increases in pay”.

The statement came following an extended Labour Court hearing. GRA president Ciarán O'Neill said the association had agreed to ballot the membership of the GRA on any non-binding recommendations of the Labour Court.

“The Labour Court requires that the distribution of such ballot to the membership be agreed as a prerequisite before it can hear our case. The Association remains fully engaged in the negotiation process,” he said.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) which is also set to strike on Friday is due to attend the Labour Court on Thursday.

Earlier Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he hopes the Garda representative groups will listen carefully to what the Labour Court has to say on Friday’s planned industrial action.

“Nobody in this country wants to see a situation where, for the first time ever, the Garda force and members of the AGSI will withdraw their services from doing their public duty.’’

The Labour Court was considered the final opportunity to avert the unprecedented industrial action on Friday.

‘Very regrettable’

Gardaí 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.

The president of the AGSI on Wednesday said it would be “very regrettable” if the relationship between gardaí and the public was damaged in the dispute.

Antoinette Cunningham said gardaí enjoyed a "very good" relationship with the public.

"I think it's regrettable that we find ourselves in the situation that we are in. Gardaí have a very good relationship and always have had with the public and anything that would be done to damage that would be very regrettable," she told RTÉ.

“I’m in a process trying to find a resolution to this very, very difficult issue. I will remain committed to that process for the next 48 hours to do everything possible on behalf of members of AGSI to find a resolution,” she said.

Ms Cunningham said trying to negotiate a resolution is the focus of the association over the next 48 hours: “that’s where our energies are at this point”.

Both groups have rejected pay proposals put forward by the Government in recent days in an attempt to resolve the dispute and Ministers have 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.