A MASS meeting of gardai is scheduled to take place in Dublin next Wednesday to deal with the unresolved internal dispute among Garda representatives. It will be held at the National Stadium.
This will be the fourth in a series of meetings held jointly by the GRA, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) and the Association of Garda Superintendents to push for a commission on pay and conditions for all ranks in the force.
The meeting is open to all members, and a number of Dublin gardai are understood to have expressed an interest in challenging the platform speakers. There has been no disruption so far at any of the meetings.
The previous meetings at Cork, Portlaoise and Sligo attracted large numbers of gardai, reflecting the level of anger in the force about pay levels.
However, the decision to hold a meeting in Dublin has already caused annoyance to members of the Garda Federation, which broke away from the GRA three years ago and whose 2,500 membership is based largely in city divisions.
An attempt to finally resolve the dispute is to take place on Tuesday when the ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, again meets delegations from the GRA, the Federation and four nonaligned Garda divisions which also broke from the GRA.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has denied a report in The Irish Times last week that it, gave an undertaking to the negotiators over the resignation of the GRA deputy general secretary, Mr P.J. Stone.
The Department said "no assurance of the kind suggested was given to anybody by the Department. Mr Stone's position within the GRA is a matter between him and that organisation."
Sources close to the negotiations say, however, that Mr Stone's continuation in office was objected to by the non GRA negotiators and defined as an "obstacle" to agreement.
The conclusion of the nine page agreement states: "It is, therefore, agreed that any obstacle which might prevent members of the Garda Siochana of garda rank from entering the association and participating fully in its affairs will be removed."