The Garda Representative Association has been involved in selecting a leading member to oversee a benevolent fund at a salary understood to be about £56,000. This is the GRA's first significant appointment since it was reconstituted after a three-year split.
Former GRA treasurer Mr John Greene's appointment as secretary of the Garda Benevolent Trust follows a decision last year by the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, to "designate" the post.
This means a Garda officer can receive a salary for work outside the force while collecting his Garda salary. The posts of general secretary of some staff associations are traditionally "designated" in this way.
Under the arrangements set up last year, the trust's new secretary is understood to receive £32,000, as well as salary of around £24,000 as a detective garda.
The job entails overseeing management of the fund, worth around £5.5 million, and a secretarial staff of two. The trust helps Garda families in difficulties, contributes to funeral costs and can lend money for third-level education.
Also included, sources say, is a back payment of £20,000 for work Mr Greene carried out as acting secretary, on a part-time basis, for the trust for the past three years.
The salary surprised some members of the trust's management committee but was passed without a vote, according to sources. The GRA holds six of the 12 committee places and holds the chairmanships of the trust's management and finance committees.
The "designation" of the post has already caused controversy. The Irish Times has learned that at least two gardai have sought legal advice on Garda management's decision to hold interviews for the secretary's post, even though the trust is a private, limited liability company.
Interviews were held under the auspices of the Garda Assistant Commissioner for personnel, "B" Branch, last autumn. Mr Greene was selected from five candidates and his name put forward to the trust's management committee. The committee endorsed Mr Greene, setting his salary and the lump-sum back payment.
The episode caused some interest as the previous commissioner, Mr Patrick Culligan, declined to allow the trust secretary's job to be "designated". As a result the job was vacant for three years until the present Commissioner reversed the decision.
The previous secretary was also a GRA member. He received an annual payment of around £11,000 and expenses. The last secretary retired in February 1996. Since then administration has been part-time.
Mr Greene declined to comment when asked if his salary had been set at £32,000 on top of his Garda salary. He said all matters concerning the trust were "confidential".
Originally known as the Garda Siochana Benevolent Society, the fund was set up when the force was founded and aimed to provide support for members in severe need.
Under its present rules, it provides set sums of £1,500 to cover funeral expenses of gardai or members of their families. There is also an annual allowance of £1,500 to orphans of dead gardai. All serving gardai pay a £1 weekly subscription.
In May 1994, the management committee surrendered the fund's friendly society status and set up as a limited company known as the Garda Benevolent Trust Fund Ltd. The stated purpose was to allow the fund to advance loans to members of the force to help pay third-level education fees for their children.
It was at this point that the previous commissioner decided the post of secretary would no longer be designated. The fund charges a flat fee of £150 for each £1,000 loan. About 2,000 loans have since been advanced to members at an interest rate of about 4 per cent.
In its annual returns, it states the loans are the "best value for money at this present time in the market". But since the fall in interest rates it is understood that loan applications have fallen off.
Last August, the Garda Assistant Commissioner in charge of personnel advertised the post of secretary in every Garda station.
Between 1994 and the end of 1997 the GRA was split and a rival staff association, known as the Garda Federation, emerged. After prolonged negotiations, both groups merged again a year ago, when the GRA agreed to reconstitute itself.
During the dispute, Mr Kieran Mulvey, chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, said rows over leadership style and appointments had contributed to the divisions.