THE break-away garda staff association, the Garda Federation, has agreed to enter talks with the Garda Representative Association (GRA) about settling differences and embarking on new pay talks.
As anticipated, the national council of the federation yesterday agreed to accept the GRA's invitation to talks issued last week.
The talks, which will also include another four Garda divisions, representing around 1,100 gardai, which separated from the GRA but did not join the Garda Federation, could take place in the next week or two.
This would mark the most significant breakthrough yet in the prolonged and acrimonious dispute which broke out in March 1994 when a group of officials walked out of the annual GRA conference.
The Garda Federation, which represents some 2,500 gardai, mainly in Dublin, last night issued a brief statement saying it had accepted the GRA invitation to talks.
No further details of the move were available.
Meanwhile, the GRA is embarking on a series of public meetings to highlight pay demands along with two other Garda staff associations, the Association of Garda Superintendents and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).
A series of meetings is being organised to call for a commission on pay and conditions in the force.
In a statement yesterday, the three associations said there was widespread anger about the exclusion of the gardai and Defence Forces from the national pay agreement talks.
It said: "There has been no comprehensive review of Garda pay since 1981 and gardai of all ranks are now uniting in a demand for a commission to examine their pay.
"The dangers officers face have increased enormously since 1981 as has their workload as a result of a decline in the number of the force plus the continuing introduction of new procedures and practices."
The first of the meetings is scheduled for February 4th, at Connolly Hall in Cork.