Members of the Garda Federation, the group which broke away from the main Garda staff association three years ago, have voted to return to the Garda Representative Association (GRA). A poll of federation members was held last week and yesterday it was announced that of around 2,500 members, 1,003 had voted to return to the GRA and 269 voted against. The vote for a return was supported by the federation leadership and it appears now that most of its members will rejoin the GRA.
However, there is still considerable opposition among gardai about rejoining the GRA, despite substantial changes made to the GRA constitution and rules. The process leading to the poll was facilitated by the intervention of the ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells.