€4,000 in allowances may be offered to new garda recruits

New entrant gardaí could receive about €4,000 in restored allowances by November if their representative body agrees to enter into the Lansdowne Road public service deal, according to Government sources.

Government sources said there would also be reforms to the use of additional hours which gardaí have been obliged to carry out under the former Haddington Road agreement.

Members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) are facing a freeze on the payment of increments from Friday.

Government sources said the restoration of rent allowance for gardaí recruited in recent years could be in place by November in return for cooperation with reform measures and agreement to sign up to the Lansdowne Road accord.

The additional unpaid hours could in future be made up by attending two training days or for 60 briefing sessions of 15 minutes duration, Government sources said.

Sanctions are being imposed on members of the GRA, along with the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI), as both organisations have rejected the Lansdowne Road agreement, which is the cornerstone of the Government’s public service pay policy.

The two organisations had signed up to the previous Haddington Road agreement, but it – and the protections it afforded to public servants – expired on Thursday night.

Financial emergency legislation, known as Fempi, introduced last year allows the Government to impose sanctions on members of organisations deemed to have repudiated a collective agreement.

The GRA has warned that if financial penalties are imposed it will be in dispute with the Government, although it has not detailed any action it would take in response.

Members of the GRA protested outside the gates of Leinster House on Thursday and urged the Government to postpone the implementation of the financial penalties.

The organisation argued that the Government had failed to deliver on its promise of a review of Garda pay which formed part of the Haddington Road accord. This pay review was supposed to have been completed in 2014 but is still not finalised.