Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome to the House, as is the Bill. I have spoken to the various associations and they are satisfied that although it does not do everything they seek, they do not want the Bill impeded in any way and would like to see it go through.

The Minister of State will know that in an industrial dispute, we came very close to what was termed a "blue flu". It would be a sad day for Ireland if members of the Garda Síochána pulled their services over any industrial relations issue. It is good that we are now putting a mechanism in place whereby, like any other workers, its members have access to the labour relations machinery of the State and can bring their grievances there to be adjudicated by independent bodies. It is an extremely important and bold move by the Government to allow that. Since the foundation of the State, members of the Garda have not had that available to them.

The position of members of the Garda with respect to future negotiations, which also is that of one of the Defence Forces groups, is that there should be an independent pay commission outside the Public Service Pay Commission. The Public Service Pay Commission deals with everything from teachers to nurses and from civil servants to clerks in local authorities. We have to agree that people in this country who wear a uniform do a very different job from anybody else in the State and that they cannot be encompassed by the normal national negotiations. For that reason alone, I support having a separate mechanism. For example, some uniformed people feel that the public services group of ICTU would not suit their needs. They want a separate group, similar to what exists in the UK, where a pay commission looks annually at the army, air force and navy. While that commission never exceeds the percentage terms of the national pay agreement, there is some degree of flexibility around allowances, special payments and so on.

I have one difficulty that goes back to before the Minister of State's time, so I hope he will not take it personally.I have a difficulty with an arbitrated agreement such as the one with the Army Ranger Wing that I mentioned this morning. In 2010, members of the Army Ranger Wing took a case for arbitration. They were awarded an increase of between €50 and €60 a week and it was backdated to 2006. The award was made at the height of the recession and economic collapse, yet the arbitrator saw the claim as something that he should recommend. To date, it has not been paid and about €35,000 is due to be paid to every single serving member of the Army Ranger wing. It is pretty sad that we have not looked after that.

In providing access to the Labour Court and the WRC for members of An Garda Síochána, we should have gone the whole hog and included the Defence Forces. I understand what the Minister of State has said but we will revisit this matter at some stage in the future. The members of the Defence Forces, like anybody else in this country, are workers. The Chief of Staff should be the line manager for all members of the Defence Forces and there should be a resolution process under the State's industrial relations procedures and mechanisms.

The conciliation and arbitration system is under review and I await the outcome of that. It is something that needs a drastic review. When I was president of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, conciliation and arbitration was one of the mechanisms for resolving disputes but we were also a trade union in our own right and reserved the right to withdraw labour, like any trade union. Clearly, with gardaí and soldiers, the withdrawal of labour would be an extremely severe step and I am not sure that any of the associations would want that. I could go around the houses on this issue all day but I am not going to do so. The Minister of State has brought forward legislation and taken in one aspect of those in uniform. It is a pity that the legislation does not meet the full needs of the Garda Representative Association, GRA, and the Association of Garda Superintendents but the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI, is happy enough. I commend the Minister of State on bringing the legislation here and look forward to seeing the Bill enjoy a speedy passage. I hope it will be signed off before the summer break. I hope to see the two stages come together the next time.