THE Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, today meets the opposing sides in the internal Garda representatives dispute over her proposals to legislate for a newly constituted Garda Representative Association (GRA).
Opposition appears to be mounting to the Garda Siochana Bill which creates new structures for Garda representation and gives the Minister power to dissolve the association if it fails to abide by the new guidelines.
Members of the breakaway staff association, the Garda Federation, are meeting in Dublin tonight to discuss their approach to the Government's proposed legislation.
The Garda Federation has already indicated it is opposed to the legislation and may be prepared to pursue limited industrial action during the EU presidency over a pay claim under the Programme for Competitiveness in Work (PCW).
The existing Garda Representative Association has decided to hold a special delegate conference, possibly in early July, and may also oppose the proposal on Ministerial powers of dissolution in the Bill.
Today, Mrs Owen will meet the third group in the dispute, representatives of gardai in four rural divisions who have split from the GRA but who remain separate from the Garda Federation. Their approach to the legislation is still unclear.
The Garda representative dispute has been running for two years. There have been at least six attempts to resolve it through negotiations and conciliation, along with a direct threat of dissolution to the GRA from the previous Minister for Justice, Mrs Maire Geoghegan Quinn, in December, 1994.