AS more than 550 Limerick Gardaí were ordered by Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan to turn up for work on Friday, rank and file members of the Garda unions say they are “isolated” in the ongoing pay dispute with the Department of Justice.
Eleventh hour negotiations at the Labour Court were underway this Wednesday in a bid to avert the policing crisis, but morale in the force still remains at an all time low with the Garda Representative Association (GRA) stating that the planned withdrawal of service will still go ahead this Friday.
This will mean there will be no Gardaí on the beat throughout the city and county; a reduction in traffic corp patrols, likely cancellations of court hearings as well as possible disruptions at Shannon Airport, where Gardaí operate the immigration services.
However, members of the specialist units such as the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and the Regional Support Unit (RSU) have been asked not to partake in the action and to offer their services as part of emergency cover for the region.
With senior management yet to announce contingency plans, GRA members say that they will not bow to the “bullying” of the Commissioner after she ordered them to turn up for work and further breached Garda rules by cancelling all annual leave and rest days without giving the required 14 days notice.
To date, amended pay proposals have been rejected by both the GRA and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) who described them as “inequitable”.
Garda Frank Thornton, GRA representative for the Limerick Division said that the action on Friday remained in place as the “Labour Court talks may be too little too late”, although there was a slim chance of the planned action being cancelled or postponed.
“The Commissioner’s correspondence this week has done nothing only to solidify our membership and it has isolated us as a group.
“Gardaí were contacted overnight telling them to turn up for work on Friday. Leave days cancelled, rest days shelved and orders given for boots on the street. This happened while our members were at home with their families. Others were just told while they were out on the job.
“This is nothing short of bullying. The tactics employed are now filtering through to the commissioner and it cannot be accepted.
“We have legitimate pay claims and when we air the grievances, attempts are made to shut us down. To think we can’t do that is ridiculous.
“For too long, Government has failed in its part to honour pay agreements and then landed us with emergency legislation to freeze incremental pay and entitlements.
“Everybody wants this resolved but what is happening now is very last-minute and as usual only a half measured approach”, Garda Thornton told the Limerick Post
