Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The management of An Garda Síochána, the day-to-day deployment of gardaí and discipline in An Garda Síochána are matters for the Garda Commissionr who enjoys the support of the Government in doing his job. I hope he also enjoys the support of Members. Deputy Mattie McGrath misunderstands the process by which members of An Garda Síochána, prison officers, members of the Defence Forces and members of disciplined forces in the State engage in negotiations. The Croke Park agreement negotiations or public service negotiations involve the trade unions, with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions representing the broad range of trade unions engaged in discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. There is a separate set of discussions that runs parallel to these negotiations for the representative bodies of An Garda Síochána, the representatives of prison officers and members of the Defence Forces. In respect of the negotiations that have been completed, the representatives of prison officers and members of the Defence Forces continued with and participated in the negotiations. The Garda representative bodies decided to withdraw from the negotiations, as was their call. There is already a conciliation and arbitration scheme in place to deal with issues that arise in An Garda Síochána. The Government and the Minister are open to discussion. The Minister has had discussions with the Garda representative bodies and the Government is open to having discussions with them on the pay agreement. The representative bodies decided to withdraw from the talks. It was their right to make that decision. It is regrettable that they did so, but that is the call they made.

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