Gardaí to work unpaid additional hours in 15 minute modules

Gardaí will in future be permitted to work the unpaid additional hours required by the Government under productivity reforms in modules of 15 minutes at the end of their shifts.

Under the new deal agreed between the Garda Representative Association and the Department of Justice at the weekend, the total number of additional hours which rank and file gardaí will have to work annually will be reduced from 30 to 15 annually.

The new requirement to work the additional hours in modules of 15 minutes will be “self rostering” and can be carried out at the end of shifts to complete duties underway such as filling in forms, according to informed sources.

The requirement for the additional hours will run until the expiry of the Lansdowne Road agreement in mid 2018.

Informed sources said the deal also contains a commitment to put in place a new process aimed at reducing the garda working week from 40.4 hours per week to 39 hours by the time the Lansdowne road accord ends.

The new deal is being discussed on Monday by the executive of the Garda Representative Association.

The deal also addresses the key issue of the two-tier pay structure which has been in place for gardaí recruited after 2012 when the then Fine Gael /Labour coalition unilaterally abolished allowances for paid to staff in the public service taken on after that time.

Gardaí recruited after that date lost out on rent allowances worth about €4,000 per year.

Under the new proposals gardaí will will receive the equivalent of the €4,000 rent allowance in two tranches, one in January 2017and the other in January 2018.

The deal would also see gardaí who have forfeited incremental pay rises due since last July receiving the money.

At the beginning of July the Government determine the Garda Representative Association to have “repudiated” the Lansdowne Road pay agreement and invoked financial emergency legislation to impose penalties on its members.

Among these measures was the suspension of incremental pay rises - which can be worth about €2,000 annually in some cases .

In return for the abolition of the two-tier pay structure, the Garda Representative Association will be required to sign up to the Lansdowne Road public service pay agreement.