RENEWED efforts to seek agreement between the groups involved in the internal dispute among Garda representatives are to begin again this month.
The Minister for Justice, Ms Owen, is expected to bring forward legislation for setting up a single new representative association for the 8,600 officers of garda rank.
This move coincides with attempts to restart an arbitration process. Last week members of the three factions met for five hours of informal talks.
The talks, at St Mary's rugby club, Templeogue, Dublin, were convened by the former Garda Representative Association (GRA) general secretary, Mr Jack Marrinan.
Four members of the GRA central executive committee, four Garda Federation members and representatives of gardai in four rural divisions, independent of both the GRA and federation, attended.
Government sources have indicated they wish to see an early end to the dispute which has been a source of embarrassment and is seen as damaging to the image of the Force.
The effect of the dispute on the public image of the Garda Siochana is felt to be particularly inappropriate at a time when the State is suffering from one of its highest ever levels of crime.
According to Garda sources, the Government proposal to legislate for a new Garda representative association may be accompanied by an improved pay and pensions offer to gardai.
This could resolve one of the central issues in the dispute. A major part of the discontent which led to the divisions concerned the deal negotiated under the Programme for Competitiveness in Work (PCW) which gave gardai highly attractive pension entitlements in place of a salary increase.
This led to objections from the mainly younger gardai in the Dublin Metropolitan Area divisions, who moved in large numbers from the GRA to the Garda Federation. They objected to the fact that other public sector salary awards under the PCW were better than theirs.
Some Garda sources indicated yesterday that they expect the Government to bring pressure on the groups involved in the dispute to resolve their differences in return for a renegotiated pay settlement in the coming months.
The renewed attempts at a settlement come amid reports of further internal differences in both the GRA and the Garda Federation.
A number of former prominent Garda Federation figures have dropped out of the leadership of the organisation. There has also been continued argument within the GRA over the failure to resolve the dispute.