Garda strike likely as GRA rejects Government offer

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has rejected an offer from the Government aimed at averting strike action which is due to take place from Friday.

The GRA met on Monday night to consider proposals drawn up by officials from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). Its executive unanimously rejected the proposal after considering the matter at its offices in Dublin.

The 10,500 members of the GRA and the 2,000 members Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) will strike for 24-hours on each of the four Fridays in November as part of a dispute over pay and representation.

Speaking after the decision to reject the offer, GRA president Ciaran O’Neill said: “The GRA met this evening. We had the presentation from the Department (of Justice). We rejected it unanimously. We’re still open for talks. It is still in the hands of the department to come back to us.

“The sticking point is that there wasn’t enough in it. The whole package wasn’t acceptable to the members. I don’t want to go into specific details.

“The decision from conference in relation to Friday is that it is still going on.”

Sources said the Government was insisting it could not go outside the parameters of the Lansdowne Road accord, which has been backed by more than 20 trade unions representing some 250,000 workers.

The Government is fearful that if gardaí receive additional money outside the terms of the deal, its entire public pay policy could quickly unravel.

However, it did make some concessions and on Saturday the Irish Times reported that the Government was offering to pay gardaí extra money for periods of time before their shifts began.

The offer centred on payment for a 15 minute period spent “on parade,” a period in which officers receive a briefing in advance of a new shift.

The Government’s offer is also understood to have involved a restoration of a €4,000 rent allowance for gardaí recruited after 2011.

A number of other trade unions have indicated privately they will be reading the Government’s proposals to gardaí very carefully to see if they contain any measures not currently available to their members.

AGSI talks

Talks between the Department of Justice and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) have also been continuing.

If the planned strike action on Friday goes ahead it will leave between 300 and 400 officers at superintendent rank and higher to police the State with the assistance of recruit and probationer gardaí as well as Garda reservists.

Government sources last night said members of the Defence Forces may also be used, with one adding that the military had already been participating in the contingency planning should it be needed.

The presence of soldiers on the streets appears unlikely as it would create panic and also damage Ireland’s reputation abroad, military sources say.

However, they said the military could be used to control flashpoint situations.