THE LEVEL of militancy among rank-and-file gardaí over recent levies and pay cuts will be revealed today when the Garda Representative Association (GRA) reveals the results of a survey of its members.
The association generated considerable controversy in December when it announced plans to ballot its members on industrial action.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy reacted angrily to the plan. Both pointed out to the GRA that its plans were in breach of the law.
Mr Ahern said the plan would not be tolerated, describing it as an “affront to democracy”.
Mr Murphy called some of the GRA’s leading officials to a meeting in his office at Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.
He outlined the provisions in the Garda Síochána Act 2005 under which gardaí who take industrial action or induce others to do so face five years in jail.
Mr Murphy also stressed that members of the GRA who took industrial action, including its executive, could be targeted in civil actions by the State and other parties.
The association initially said, given the level of anger among its members at the income and pension levies and the public sector pay cut, that it would press ahead with its industrial action ballot plans.
However, it later rowed back and posted its members a questionnaire rather than a ballot paper.
The questionnaire asked the 11,600 GRA members to consider a number of options “in the event of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions engaging in further industrial action arising from decisions of the Government in relation to public sector pay”.
The options included:
Take no further steps;
Take such steps short of the withdrawal of services as may be determined by the executive of the GR;
Suggest their own proposals.
The GRA has made it clear to members on the questionnaire that their views are merely being sought and that the executive was not encouraging them into any particular course of action.
The cut-off point for receipt of the surveys was yesterday at 5pm.
The results are due to be announced at a press conference this evening at the GRA’s offices in Phibsboro, Dublin.
The executive committee will today conclude its monthly two-day meeting.