Unions set for critical talks on pay cuts

Make-or-break talks and crisis meetings will be held this week as protesting unions ratchet up their campaign against pay cuts.

The Frontline Services Alliance — representing 70,000 gardaí, nurses, and prison officers — will gather in Dublin for a mass rally this evening to spell out to Government the unsocial and dangerous nature of their job and demand “special” treatment.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter urged the two Garda associations to rejoin the Croke Park process, but both are determined to push ahead with limited industrial action this Friday by removing “goodwill” tasks they have traditionally provided.