Mr. Martin Callinan:

Hopefully. For quite some time, my members felt that I should be shouting from the rooftops about their pay and conditions at a time when the Government had clearly indicated to An Garda Síochána and right across the Civil Service and public service what savings were required to facilitate and comply with agreements with the troika. I had a full and frank discussion with all the associations because I was aware there are young members who are obviously struggling hard with the conditions and the circumstances they find themselves in.

This was real problem for all of us. I called in all of the associations and told them where my position lay and set out the roles and responsibilities I had. Certainly, that did not include my shouting in public about how the Government should conduct its business. I had wider responsibilities towards the organisation in terms of fighting for better conditions, equipment, transport, necessary promotions and all of those things I felt I should be addressing. I have been very proactive on all of those fronts. After that, we had a series of annual associations and conferences and, again, I spoke to the membership in closed session and we had a very full and frank discussion. Since then, there has been a much clearer understanding of my role and what I can do to help out. I indicated that I had been working away behind the scenes and that the people who needed to know about the problems the membership were bringing to my table had been informed and were actually listening. We can see the manifestation of a lot of those things right now in the context of the LRC proposals.

I was asked if I believe all of this will work. I hope it will because it has certainly been the case - as they have, with justification, indicated - that the associations were not centrally involved. That is a huge area which is acknowledged by all reasonable-minded people. Now, they have had an opportunity to get up-front and central with the people calling the shots and making recommendations back to Government. I am very pleased that all of the associations fully engaged with the process and are going back to their members to look for an endorsement of proposals that are set to match and meet our obligations towards reaching the savings. On a personal note, I consider the proposals to be positive and doable. They will in so far as they possibly can satisfy the membership, but that is a matter for the membership about which I cannot do anything. The process has certainly paved the way for a more meaningful discussion between the associations and their memberships. Hopefully, the right outcome will result, to everyone's satisfaction.