A system to monitor the performance of individual gardai has been excluded from the pay deal negotiated between the Garda representative associations and the Government.
The Government side had sought to introduce the performance management system that is being implemented in other sectors of the public service.
A number of attempts have been made over the past eight years to introduce such a system in the Garda, but all have failed. Garda sources say the idea may now be dead.
A system for personal performance appraisal in the Garda was, most recently, recommended last year in a confidential report by consultants on behalf of Garda management.
An attempt was made to include the performance assessment in the pay deal under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF). But the Garda staff negotiators rejected it. Instead, a system of "sectoral performance" appraisal was instituted.
The proposal for "performance development" was first put forward in January 1993 as part of a programme which management hoped would improve policing performance. A document, Performance Development and Review Guidelines, was issued to the force by the then commissioner, Mr Patrick Culligan.
The notion that an individual garda's work should be reviewed by his or her superiors was strongly contested by Garda representatives.
However, management pressed on. Similar proposals were included in the Garda Five-Year Strategy document of 1993-1998. A slightly watered-down version was included in the Corporate Strategy document of 2000-2004.
The June 1997 report by the Steering Group on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Garda Siochana, however, insisted that performance appraisal was central to the efficient running of the force.
It stated: "The management of performance is a critical challenge now facing the Garda Siochana, and a pro-active performance management system is required."
And yet another confidential report, by the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI) on Garda Management Development and Training, completed last June, further supports management's desire for performance appraisal.
The report, which has been seen by The Irish Times, states that "a system of management which assesses individual performance against objectives, recognises good performance and assists poor performers to improve should be developed".
It adds: "It appeared to us that, of all the systems changes planned, performance management was perhaps the least advanced.
"This is mainly because of the need to begin to negotiate a system that is acceptable to staff representatives. The inclusion in the recently agreed PPF of a commitment to performance management in the public service may be expected to give added urgency to the introduction of such a system in An Garda Siochana.".
The PPF negotiations were concluded in December. The two main Garda associations, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), strongly opposed the system.