Straight talking

IT would be unfortunate if any organisation decided not to co-operate with the Public Service Pay Commission because of remarks made but later withdrawn by its chairman Kevin Duffy.

Mr Duffy last evening withdrew his suggestion that industrial action threatened by gardaí was tantamount to “a mutiny”. He accepted the phrase was inappropriate. However, he insisted that any industrial action would have been illegal.

How else could the strike threat be described? No matter what untested advice garda bodies offer, it is illegal for gardaí to strike. Every member of the force knew that when they swore an oath to serve this State. Is that oath now optional?

Before he withdrew the mutiny remark Mr Duffy had been strongly supported by the public service committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions — it described him as a man of “great knowledge and integrity”. Mr Duffy may have tempered his remarks but his earlier declaration suggests he would be a breath of fresh air in a process too long a captive of sectional interests.