The Garda Representative Association (GRA) is to meet tomorrow to discuss holding another one-day strike, probably this week, in support of its demand for a 15 per cent pay increase. There is growing unease that if there is any further action the Army will have to be called out to provide cover.
According to sources close to the association's central executive, a strong mood of militancy still exists despite the direct intervention yesterday of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, with an offer to consult the national pay partners, ICTU and IBEC, with a view to including gardai directly in future public pay talks.
Until now the Garda and Defence Forces have been excluded from the public sector pay negotiations.
The GRA deputy general secretary, Mr P.J. Stone, last night gave a broad welcome to the Taoiseach's initiative and said it would be discussed at the next GRA executive committee meeting, scheduled for tomorrow.
However, GRA sources privately indicated last night that the Taoiseach's offer might not be sufficient to divert further industrial action. One source described it as a "stalling tactic".
Garda management is becoming increasingly concerned at the impact of the GRA action on policing. The 24-hour strike on Saturday left the force very depleted, and sources said it was lucky that no serious incidents occurred. Many stations which should have had contingents of 15 or more officers on Saturday night had only two or three, supported by recruits. The force was without its armed Emergency Response Unit.
The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, expressed concern that if the industrial action continues there could be a "tragedy". Preparations are being made to call out the Army if emergencies arise from further industrial action. The Commissioner said the Army was on standby and could be called out. "I have the greatest of time for the Defence Forces that work very closely with us but they work as an aid to the civil power. I think it would be a dark day for this country, a democracy with a police force, to have military patrolling the streets." Following Mr Ahern's intervention in the dispute yesterday, officials from his Department will today formally ask the ICTU and IBEC to investigate the possibilities of breaking the impasse. In the wake of Saturday's second "blue flu" day of mass absenteeism, Mr Ahern called on the GRA to end the industrial dispute and to enter talks. Its action was doing much damage to the status and image of the force, he said.
"The Garda associations have expressed on many occasions the widespread view of their members that they have been denied any meaningful input to the national pay talks, unlike most public servants, while being expected to accept the outcome. I am prepared to address this issue constructively," he said.
He had arranged for "urgent consultations" with IBEC and the ICTU - the parties to the national pay talks - and he expected an early response. That response is expected either today or tomorrow, sources said.
Consultations will then be conducted with the Garda associations.
Although the Government is sticking rigorously to its view that there can be no breach in public pay guidelines, the Taoiseach indicated that there is still scope for "meaningful discussion". "I believe progress can be made through addressing a range of issues, including productivity, not discussed to date. I hope that the possibilities presented by these two approaches would permit the Garda Representative Associations to call off the industrial action, which is doing so much damage to the status and image of the force", Mr Ahern added.