LIMERICK Gardaí will be asked to consider a last-minute pay offer during negotiations with the Work Relations Committee (WRC) in a bid to avert the planned withdrawal of services during the four Fridays in November.
This Wednesday, Garda Frank Thornton, who is the Garda Representative Association’s Central Executive Committee Representative for the Limerick Division, said there would be no speculation on any new deals.
“We have given the Government every opportunity to engage with us in a meaningful manner but they just continue to ignore one of the country’s emergency services”, he said as he described the last pay offer made to Gardaí as an “insult”.
However, it is understood that while the new terms being offered by the Government are an improvement on the previous deal, they will remain within the parameters of the Lansdowne Road public service pay agreement.
While concern has been expressed about the possibility of the strike resulting in the closure of Shannon airport, a spokesman for the Shannon Group said that they were liaising with local Garda Management on a daily basis to minimise any impact on flight arrivals at Shannon.
“In the interim, Shannon Airport continues to plan and operate as normal,” he added.
Although talks have been held between Garda management and unions, an overall contingency plan to provide cover during the strike has yet to be finalised.
It is believed that Garda management may wait for the outcome of talks between the unions and the Department of Justice before it submits detailed requests for emergency cover.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) represent more than 600 members in the Limerick division and 12,500 nationally.
It is understood that consultations have been held between both unions with the GRA encouraging members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and the five Regional Support Units (RSU) who are rostered to work on the planned strike days to turn up for duty.
An emergency policing strategy in case of a murder is also to be put in place while members of the Garda Technical Bureau have also asked to be on call to deal with evidence retrieval from crime scenes.
This Friday, both parties in the talks agreed to work with the WRC to try to come to an agreement.
