Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach has acknowledged, the State faces an unprecedented crisis in policing.

The Taoiseach has made an appeal to those on all sides. However, the Government is on one of those sides. We have known of this pending crisis for months but the Government failed to actively seek an early resolution. Many people are asking why everything is always left to the last minute. The Government allowed the summer to pass with no real effort made to engage in dialogue with the Garda representative bodies. The pay proposals the Taoiseach enumerated again today - which were put recently and belatedly by the Government - have been roundly rejected. The AGSI, described them as inequitable. The executive committee of the GRA unanimously rejected the proposed deal and said the Government's proposals were not acceptable to its members. Both unions, therefore, have given a resounding "No" to the Taoiseach's proposals.

Why is the Government not listening to what rank and file gardaí are telling him? Last night's intervention by the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, where she warned that gardaí participating in Friday's strike will have their pay docked, and her threat to make officers liable for any damages that occur were unhelpful and, if I may say so, totally unnecessary. The Taoiseach is in touch with rank and file gardaí, as is everybody here. He knows the fear that is in communities and he must know that it is his Government's negative stance on pay for members of An Garda Síochána and teachers - and, potentially, doctors and nurses - that is fuelling Friday's strike action and the action planned by teachers on Monday because he has refused to commit to the principle of equal pay for equal work.

As we all acknowledge, citizens and communities are understandably worried by the implications of Friday's strike. The Garda bodies are with the Labour Court today. We await the outcome of that process. The Government has given a signal that An Garda Síochána will have access to the industrial relations mechanisms of the State. That needs to be a legal right. Will the Taoiseach give a firm date for the publication of the necessary legislation to provide gardaí with access to the WRC and the Labour Court?

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