A refusal by senior gardai to cover for rank-and-file officers who may take industrial action brings the pay dispute to "crisis proportions", the Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, has said.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) announced yesterday that its 2,000 members would not "come to the rescue of the Government by providing an emergency service as they had done on the `blue flu' day on May 1st."
More than 4,500 rank-and-file gardai, members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), reported sick on May 1st. Their duties, such as driving patrol cars and routine patrols, were carried out by higher-rank gardai. "Without such back-up there is a major threat to the security of the State and to public safety," Mr Higgins said.
On Thursday the GRA said it was stepping up its action, with two or three-day national protests, and other measures to be announced next week. The GRA is still threatening to disrupt the first day of the Irish leg of the Tour de France next month.
The Labour Party's justice spokesman, Mr Pat Upton, said because it did not have trade union status the GRA could be "leaving itself open to claims for compensation for any economic loss which is caused to third parties - including the organisers of the Tour de France - as a result of their action."
It was "time to grasp the nettle and get this thing solved before it wrecks the force," the AGSI's general secretary, Mr George Maybury, said. "We cannot go on having these battles over pay." The AGSI has remained in official pay talks despite anger among members over an offer on April 1st of 5.5 per cent. The GRA has been out of the talks since then, although informal discussions have been going on.
"We've stayed in negotiations since last December," Mr Maybury said. "They've been making very slow progress and there's a limit to how long we can stay." He said the "crunch time" for a decision on the AGSI's continued involvement would come when the next GRA industrial action happened.
