THE Garda Representative Association (GRA) has split for the third time in as many years after its leadership decided to reject a ballot on terms to reunify, its members.
The decision by the GRA Central Executive Committee (CEC), already reduced by the departure of members representing some 3,600 gardai, yesterday caused a further seven representatives to leave.
The seven CEC members who left represent divisions with a total membership of around 1,500. Their departure means that around 5,100 of the total of 8,300 gardai are no longer represented at the GRA executive table.
The immediate consequences of the latest departures were being assessed by Garda management and Department of Justice officials who have spent the past three years fruitlessly trying to resolve the internal dispute.
The latest agreement, worked out last month during negotiations attended by a delegation of five members of the GRA central executive was to have been voted on this week. But the GRA has refused to issue ballot papers to its members until, it says, its claims for a commission on pay are met by the Government.
The agreement was reached during negotiations chaired by the General Secretary of the ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells.
It was unclear how the latest departures will affect the relationship between the Minister and the association, which remains the only officially recognised negotiating body on behalf of gardai.
It appears that the GRA leadership is continuing with its planned public demonstration along O'Connell Street, Dublin, to the gates of the Dail tomorrow in support of a commission of inquiry into garda pay. The demand for a commission has already been rejected by the Minister.
According to sources close to the GRA executive yesterday, the departure of the seven divisional representatives followed a difficult meeting. Six members, from Dublin Metropolitan Area North, Carlow/Kildare, Cork, the Garda College, Kerry and Wexford left the executive table before a vote was taken to reject the ballot. After the vote was passed by a majority of 10 to five, another member, representing Galway division, left.
The Garda Federation last night called on the Minister for Justice "to take decisive and unequivocal action" to resolve the dispute, saying the ballot had been "obstructed by a minority of the GRA executive".