Garda association rejects pay reports

The Garda Representative Association has rejected media suggestions that gardai have done better than others in public sector pay awards.

Recent newspaper reports claimed gardai now have an average take home pay of a thousand euros a week.

GRA general secretary PJ Stone said the reports are way off the mark, adding that the benchmarking process will ultimately decide how much each social group is paid.

"I have no sense of begrudgery towards others trying to increase their pay," he said. "But the benchmarking body is an independent unit, and I think they will do their job properly and they should be left alone to do it," he said.