The Garda's new computer system, which already has cost the State some £40 million, went on line at midnight last night, with almost the entire force refusing to operate it in contravention of orders from management.
An "informal" meeting between the garda staff associations and the Department of Justice is due to take place today to discuss the pay dispute which has led to the boycott of the system.
However, there was no sign of an early end to the dispute over garda demands for extra payment to operate the PULSE (an acronym for Police Using Leading Systems Effectively).
The system became operational from midnight in 15 garda divisional headquarters and 15 other garda offices, including the Command and Control and Stolen Vehicles Office, from midnight. It will gradually be introduced throughout the rest of the State by January when it is estimated some 1,400 personal computers will be linked up.
The existing Garda computer network will be gradually turned off this week. Since the middle of last month data from this system had been transferred to the PULSE system and no new data was put on it.
It was anticipated that by last weekend at the latest, gardai would have begun inputting data into the new PULSE system.
Over the weekend there were a number of disputes in at least two Garda stations as members refused to input data on PULSE.
A meeting of gardai in the Dublin south central division last night overwhelmingly endorsed a decision not to work the new computer system.
Over the weekend, there were a number of meetings in the division after gardai objected to the use of trainee gardai to input data into the new computers.
According to garda sources, there was widespread support for the industrial action ordered by the GRA and it appears the new system will not be in use this week, at least. Any offer of additional payments by Government will have to be put to a ballot of GRA members who have twice rejected pay offers tied to extra productivity.
A spokesman for the Garda Siochana last night said a directive to operate the new system had been issued by the Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne. The spokesman said Garda management would be monitoring "very, very carefully" if individual members refused to follow the commissioner's directive.
The GRA General Secretary, Mr P.J. Stone, said his association was not seeking conflict with Garda management as this was an industrial relations issue between the GRA and the Department of Justice. There was a "problem" with the introduction of PULSE, he said, but his members would continue to provide a policing service.
Gardai in Dublin yesterday appeared confused about the likely effect of the industrial action. Some appeared to think that the force would be without any records system from midnight. Others felt the existing system would run normally until the end of the year.
However, senior garda sources confirmed that the existing computer system, which is not Y2K compliant, will be run down from this week. Data from it had been transferred to the new system on October 16th and no further data had been input into the old system. There are up-to-date records on the new PULSE system which had been tested by computer staff over the weekend and found to be operating satisfactorily.
From this week, gardai should be increasingly reliant on the new system for criminal and court records, information on firearms and stolen cars. However, if they will not access information on the new computers, it is not clear where they will retrieve information on these matters, which are central to policing crime.
Most members said they did not anticipate that the dispute would have an immediate impact on policing services. However, officers involved in crime work said it would eventually cause disruption in respect of looking for information on suspected stolen cars; for court records on people arrested for crimes and brought to stations; and in the provision of defendants' criminal records for judges.