Published: Wednesday, 17th February, 2010 5:00pm

Gardai must tread cautiously in industrial relations dispute

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News that members of An Garda Siochana are planning a version of industrial action is a worrying development.

The blue flu controversy of a number of years ago brought the force into disrepute in the eyes of the public and there is every danger that the latest industrial unrest will further fray relations between the citizenry and its police force.

Gardai cannot be law withdraw their labour - and so a ballot of rank and file members of the Garda Representative Association has proposed taking some lesser form of industrial action.

Gardai can have difficult and important jobs. Their hours can be unsocial; their responsibilities onerous and their duties dangerous.

But they are relatively well paid for their lot and according to An Bord Snip Nua, they enjoy a series of allowances and benefits that are not sustainable.

The McCarthy report suggested the "liberal system of allowances on top of basic salary and a high overtime bill is not in the public interest and should be revised with the aim of securing efficiencies in the delivery of policing services".

The overall Garda pay bill is about €940 million a year, of which €643 million is regular pay, €215 million allowances, and €80 million overtime.

Many if not most of the allowances are considered by members of the force to be part of their salary.

Yet it is the standard pay and pension cuts, imposed on most civil servants, which have sparked the angry Garda response. The allowances, as of yet, have not been touched.

It is the case, as in every workplace, that there are legitimate issues of concern to ordinary Gardai and they should be able to defend their own interests.

But how all of these issues are pursued in the coming months will be crucial for the future of the force.

In the main, despite recent controversies surrounding the activities of some members of the force, Gardai enjoy the respect of the Irish population.

In fact, Gardai, in Ireland, continue to operate on the basis of co-operation with most of the community - a situation that does not necessarily exist in other modern European economies.

And herein lies the rub.

It's clear that Gardai should not be denied the right to agitate and organise for better conditions of employment.

But it should also be remembered that Gardai may well be called to enforce legislation that could be viewed as doing precisely that to other groups of workers.

In this era of growing industrial unrest, there are likely to be more workplace sit-ins, more flying pickets and increasing levels industrial unrest.

For that reason, Gardai need to tread cautiously about how they plan to lobby to defend their own conditions.

Otherwise, they will risk discrediting themselves when they are next asked to physically remove protestors from the road in the line of duty or are called to stop flying pickets.

However, the Government also needs to handle this issue with kid gloves.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has in some people's minds adopted an unnecessarily antagonistic demeanour in much of his dealings with the force in recent times.

His approach can only have served to inflame tensions between the parties.

Now is the time for cool heads and sensible approaches from both sides.