Fitzgerald and O’Sullivan discuss Garda strike contingency plan

The Tánaiste has discussed contingency plans with Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan to deal with the planned strike by gardaí.

Frances Fitzgerald told the Dáil while the Government hoped the dispute was settled, background work was continuing on contingency planning.

“The reality of any negotiations is that both sides do not get everything they want but we must continue in the coming days to work with great intensity to map a way forward,’’ she added.

Replying to Sinn Féin justice spokesman Jonathan O’Brien, Ms Fitzgerald said there was great admiration for the difficult job undertaken by gardaí.

“But we cannot let that admiration and respect blind us to the consequences of trying to resolve this dispute outside general policy in relation to public service pay,’’ she added.

Ms Fitzgerald said the challenge was for discussions to continue to achieve agreement on measures possible within the confines of the Lansdowne Road agreement.

Appeal

Earlier, Taoiseach Enda Kenny again appealed to teachers and gardaí not to go ahead with the planned strikes.

He said he was concerned about the immediacy of making progress on very sensitive issues with the unions involved – the ASTI, GRA and the AGSI.

“I do hope representatives of the three groups involved will sit again with Ministers and their officials and work out, within the constraints of Lansdowne Road, a way forward,’’ he added.

He said everything that could be done would be done.

Mr Kenny said nobody wanted to see the strikes happen.

In the teachers' case, matters had to be dealt with in an ordered, focused and strategic manner, as was evident from the agreed outcome from the discussions between Minister for Education Richard Bruton and the TUI and the INTO.

“Those benefits are there tomorrow for the ASTI and I would say to members to reflect very carefully on what their losses are, because of failure to agree and negotiate a settlement which two other very substantial unions have put in place,’’ he added.

Mr Kenny said nobody wanted to see the withdrawal of 12,500 gardaí, for whatever reason, from streets and villages throughout the country.

He hoped, he said, responsibility would be evident in the discussions taking place.

Unnecessary

He said the threatened strikes were the subject of “absolute attention’’ from the relevant Ministers.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the ASTI strike was unnecessary and it could and should be avoided.

“If it is not, thousands of students across the country will suffer,’’ he added. “They will be the main victims.’’

Mr Martin said the issue seems to have crystallised around equal pay, particularly for new entrants.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said there was also a very real prospect nurses and doctors would engage in industrial action in the near future.

“They are not doing this out of greed or selfishness but because of very legitimate concerns about their pay and conditions,’’ he added.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said the impact of industrial unrest would be very real indeed.

Parents and students would be disrupted and parents were already very anxious about how they would cope and manage their daily affairs.

"Garda sergeants and inspectors will ramp up their administrative action and we face very shortly the horrendous thought of a full withdrawal of An Garda Síochána from frontline duties,'' he added.