Senior gardaí fail to secure 46% increase to allowance at Labour Court

Bodies representing Garda superintendents and chief superintendents have failed at the Labour Court in an attempt to secure large increases to the availability allowance paid to their members.

The associations were seeking a 46 per cent increase to the payment, which is currently worth €8,500 to superintendents and €10,700 to chief superintendents annually. They sought that the increase be backdated to the start of 2018.

The allowance is paid to compensate gardaí for having to be available outside of regular working hours. The desired increase has been at the centre of a dispute which has seen some senior gardaí withdraw since last July from work they consider to be outside their core duties.

This has included the investigation of complaints referred to them by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and implementing reforms to the force’s operating model.

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Rather than issuing a recommendation on the claim, the Labour Court recommended that the parties return to their agreed dispute resolution procedure and engage with the Workplace Relations Commission’s (WRC) conciliation service to find a resolution.

Labour Court chairman Kevin Foley said the parties should address the implementation issues arising from Government pay policy and the fact that the associations are not party to the Building Momentum public service pay agreement.

Mr Foley said Garda Commissioner Drew Harris had asserted that, in circumstances where the associations are not a party to the agreement, no possibility exists of applying an increase in the value of the allowance during the lifetime of the deal.

He said that if the parties fail to find agreement by April 30th through the WRC, the matter should be referred back to the Labour Court for a definitive recommendation.