GRA president claims ‘judgement is wrong’ as court upholds Garda sick leave decision

The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision not to exempt Gardaí from reductions in paid sick leave.

The changes were introduced in 2014 and resulted in entitlements being halved for public servants.

The Garda Representative Association had argued that their members should be exempt because of the increased risk of injury to Gardaí.

The court heard an initial decision to treat officers separately was abandoned following an intervention by General Secretary of the IMPACT trade union Shay Cody.

President of the GRA Dermot O’Brien has said today’s judgement is extremely disappointing.

“The judgement is wrong, in the sense that they recognise the fact that the regulations lack a sense of clarity and that was the point we had specifically made in our case – the lack of clarity in relation to it,” said O’Brien.

“But moreover, we were denied access to places like the WRC (Workplace Relations Commission) where these decisions were arbitrarily made and we had no representation at them.”