THE announcement by Nora Owen, to a stunned audience of Garda sergeants and inspectors, that the Government had "no enthusiasm" for a pay commission came as no surprise to those in senior circles. A pay commission for gardai is seen as a starting pistol for a rush of other pay demands from prison officers and the defence forces.
The Government is also believed to have little sympathy for the Garda call for more pay. The Taoiseach himself is said to be far from convinced of their case. He has mentioned to colleagues and senior officials how he daily has to pass a farm which surpasses his own considerable spread in Co Meath and on which an impressive new house has just been built. The farm in question belongs to a Garda sergeant who was bequeathed it by a relative two years ago.
Mr Bruton is said to have asked for regulations to restrict double jobbing by gardai to be included in the current review of the force by management consultants and the Strategic Management Initiative.
Could this have been an attempt to ensure that a future taoiseach should not have to face the indignity of having to live alongside an ordinary officer of the law, living in grander circumstances than the head of government himself?