Gardaí should have same union rights as other public sector workers

THE controversy over the right of members of An Garda Siochána to hold a ballot, or even an opinion poll, to ascertain their members’ feelings on a number of issues, including industrial action, reflects a much deeper flaw in Irish democracy, ie, we are one of only three EU member states that do not make provision in law for the right of workers to collective bargaining.

That defect was masked for more than 20 years by the existence of social partnership and national pay agreements.

With their collapse, gardaí are simply the most prominent group of workers in the economy who now lack any meaningful terms of reference for assessing how fair their pay and conditions are.