Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very careful to recognise the fundamentally important job that gardaí do in putting themselves between criminals and law-abiding citizens. Deputy Martin is well aware that rank and file gardaí are not in a trade union and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors is not a trade union. However, for years, in discussions and negotiations about pay and conditions, rank and file gardaí and the AGSI have had the opportunity, through the Labour Relations Commission, to make a parallel case to the Government of the day in respect of their concerns and anxieties.

It is fair to say that gardaí, in the nature of their job, put themselves between law-abiding citizens and criminals. It is also true to say that firefighters and prison officers put their lives on the line. In both of those cases the unions representing these front-line workers stayed at the negotiations, and because they did so the original proposals were changed, as subsequently clarified by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The discussions are now over and the trade unions are quite rightly considering their views of the outcome. They deserve the opportunity and space to make their decision. I have met gardaí in various locations around the country and have made the point that it would have been preferable had the Garda Representative Association and the AGSI continued to use the parallel facility of making their case and making their concerns and anxieties known, heard and deliberated on at the table where those negotiations were conducted in the same way that firefighters and prison officers did.

I do not accept that one can categorise and divide front-line workers into sectors. Those who stand in front of classrooms and those who look after water systems in local authorities are front-line workers, and there are a great many front-line workers in the country whose unions represented them either directly or in a parallel fashion at the discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

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