The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is to meet Garda representatives tomorrow amid growing support in the force's middle ranks for some form of industrial action to back pay demands. Four divisional committees of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) have passed resolutions demanding that its leadership define some form of industrial action in support of a demand for a commission of inquiry into Garda pay. Three of the committees are in the Dublin Metropolitan Area (DMA) and the other is in Limerick. In the past two weeks they all passed resolutions calling on the AGSI executive to outline some form of industrial action.
It is the first time members of AGSI, which represents about 2,000 officers, have expressed such support for industrial action.
The AGSI general secretary, Mr George Maybury, said yesterday: "There is a great degree of anger and disillusionment. We have generated huge productivity, taken on changes in work practice and new legislation which has given rise to huge amounts of extra work, but there has been no offer of additional compensation for this."
He said that there had been repeated demands for industrial action at an AGSI regional seminar in Roscommon yesterday. Mr Maybury would not say what type of industrial action was being considered, but it is known that if there was a ban on overtime much of the criminal justice system could come to a virtual standstill.
AGSI and the Garda Representative Association (GRA) have been demanding a commission on pay since the start of the year, with no response to date from the Government. Both associations are meeting the Minister tomorrow to repeat their demands.
It is not clear how wide the support for industrial action is in the force. However, the anger over relatively low pay levels extends now to all ranks, with chief superintendents among those who have recently expressed anger over their failure to secure an acceptable pay settlement.