Head of Pay Commission retracts garda ‘mutiny’ comments

The head of the Public Service Pay Commission has retracted controversial comments in which he described the recent threatened strike by gardaí as being tanatmount to a "mutiny".

Kevin Duffy said on Friday that this had been an "inappropriate expression".

However, Mr Duffy told RTÉ that he stood by his view that the planned strike by gardaí would have been illegal.

He said he would remain as chairman of the comission as long as the Government and trade unions involved in the process had confidence in him.

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Mr Duffy said he could assure gardaí that they would receive a full impartial hearing by the commission.

The former chairman of the Labour Court had come under strong criticism from garda representative organisations over the remarks which he made on Thursday.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) welcomed the retraction of his comments relating to its members.

“We want to move forward to ensure the industrial relations mechanisms we are currently pursuing along with our ballot on the Labour Court proposals are concluded satisfactorily.”

The Garda Representative Association said following Mr Duffy's retraction, that it would "reserve its position" as to whether it had full confidence in his ability to carry out his role in an objective and impartial manner. Its central executive will discuss the situation at its meeting in December.

Strong backing

However, Mr Duffy received strong backing from both the Government, Opposition parties and and public service trade unions.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny described Mr Duffy, who is also chairing the commission on the future of water charges, as "an outstanding individual".

“Given his understanding of a working-class background, I think he will do an outstanding job as the chairman of the public pay commission.”

“I look forward to him being able to do his work and I hope that everyone will co-operate and contribute to the discussions that will take place in what is a very central issue.”

Fianna Fáil's Dara Calleary said his tone was "not helpful" but senior party sources indicated they would not call for Mr Duffy to stand aside.

Mr Duffy received support from number of public service trade unions who said any suggestion he should step down would create “a serious problem” for them.

Speaking on behalf of the public service committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Bernard Harbour of Impact said he was a man of great knowledge and integrity.

He said many unions had appeared before Mr Duffy at Labour Court and had always found him to be completely impartial.

Mr Harbour said any attempt or suggestion that Mr Duffy should stand down from his position as chairman Commission would cause serious problems for public service unions.

The Public Service Pay Commission is due to make recommendations to Government next year in relation to pay for the 300,000 staff across the public service.