Garda body recommends pay deal to members

THE organisation representing the country’s rank-and-file gardaí is to recommend that its 11,200 members vote to accept the terms of the Croke Park agreement on public service pay and reform.

The Central Executive Committee of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has decided to issue postal ballots to its members on August 2 and will count the votes after the ballot closes on August 26.

GRA bosses said the Government has accepted that allowances and premiums are a core part of garda pay and no further reductions would be implemented during the lifetime of any agreement reached, as long as the economy suffers no further dips.