Garda officers want 'clear roadmap’ towards pay restoration

Middle-ranking gardaí want the Tánaiste to produce a “clear roadmap” towards pay restoration when they meet today.

Tánaiste Francis Fitzgerald yesterday said that while any deal would have to be within the Lansdowne Road Agreement, she was looking for “a pathway towards pay restoration” for gardaí.

This afternoon’s meeting with the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) is the first of two crunch talks the justice minister is having this week, with another with the Garda Representative Association (GRA) in the coming days, expected to be Thursday.

Ms Fitzgerald said “everything” was being done to avert the strikes and said the goal of inviting the GRA and the AGSI to meetings was “getting back into detailed discussions about concerns that they have”.

She said the Department of Justice had reached an agreement with GRA negotiators last Friday week, but that this was not accepted by the broader executive.

“I certainly want to have further discussions, detailed discussions to understand their concerns to see how we can respond. It’s all about negotiation and discussion.”

But she said any deal cannot be outside the Lansdowne Road Agreement: “No, the parameters are very clear. What I’m looking for in relation to the Garda Síochána is a pathway forward that would satisfy their membership, towards pay restoration.

“We need a pathway that is clear. The Public Service Pay Commission can be part of that for An Garda Síochána.”

She said “no government wants to see” gardaí not on the street: “Nobody wants to see the gardaí not out there being the civil authority, protecting our communities and the bulwark against criminal activity.”

AGSI general secretary John Jacob yesterday said: “The minister invited us to the meeting and we were happy to take her up and discuss the situation and see what she has to say.”

He said positions were “poles apart” and that the association had gone through three and a half years of talks and broken promises.

Last week, AGSI left a pay process and announced a special delegate conference on October 17 to discuss industrial action after they claimed the Department of Public Expenditure told them there was no connection between the Horgan Garda Review and the Public Service Pay Commission.

“It’s great the minister is open to talk, but we want to see a clear roadmap, based on our conditions,” said Mr Jacob. “We will be open and frank, but we want a roadmap and we will be bringing one with us.”

Ms Fitzgerald refused to be drawn yesterday on what alternative arrangements were being put in place to deal with the strikes.

As reported last week in the Irish Examiner, this could include closing many Garda stations and utilising probationary gardaí, student gardaí and Garda Reserves — as well as 2,000 sergeants and inspectors, if they decide not to join frontline gardaí.

“I’m not going down the road of talking about alternatives,” Ms Fitzgerald said. “The goal is negotiation.”

She said the army could not step in for the gardaí: “There’s no question of the army being the civil authority. The civil authority is the Garda Síochána.”