The Taoiseach took a strong line on the pay demand by gardai when tomorrow's threatened walk-out was raised in the Dail. Mr Ahern said: "There are figures that cannot be breached because of agreements made across the board. That needs to be understood, and nothing is going to move the Government from that position. The gardai will have to understand that."

Describing the proposed walkout as a serious matter, he said: "I do not believe that the way to pursue a normal industrial relations matter is for the gardai to pursue what is allegedly going to happen on Friday."

He said meaningful negotiations had gone on for several weeks, "with a very justifiable and fair offer of 7 per cent on the table and other matters yet to be discussed".

He added that the bodies representing the gardai should continue negotiations "and not get engaged in talking about figures of 39 per cent, which are not going to be conceded this Friday, next Friday or any other Friday".

The matter was first raised on the Order of Business by the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, and the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn. Mr Bruton asked what steps the Government was taking to ensure "that Friday does not become a free day for criminals". He said the House made laws and relied on the Garda to enforce them. "If the gardai are not available to do their work on Friday, our lawmaking is futile," he added.

Mr Quinn asked if the Government had any legislative proposals to deal with the emergency security situation that would arise.

Mr Ahern said no emergency legislation would be brought forward. "It is an evolving situation. The Government will do everything it can to make sure that, operationally, there are no grave difficulties on Friday. I still hope that there will be no difficulties on Friday. I still hope that the responsible members of the Garda will not engage in an action which I believe is not justified."

He added that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, and his senior officials, would later in the day meet the Garda Commissioner to ensure that the operational matters were worked through.

Mr Bruton said: "There is a real threat to people's lives on Friday, if there is not proper garda protection. We might as well not have drunk-driving laws or speeding laws in this State if there are not going to be gardai on the streets and on the roads to enforce them."

He said the situation represented "a threat to the very institutions of the State", adding that the Taoiseach should ensure that his own ministers showed respect for those institutions. He urged Mr Ahern to ask the minister who had referred to officials from the Department of Finance as "misers and troglodytes" to keep quiet.

Mr Quinn said the public wanted to know what provision for minimum security care would be put in place tomorrow if gardai did not come to work.

The Democratic Left spokeswoman on justice, Ms Liz McManus, called for a full and comprehensive statement from the Government after the meeting between the Minister and the Garda Commissioner. This would allay fears within the community and pinpoint exactly what provision would be made to protect the public good.

She urged the Taoiseach to "intervene in an appropriate way" to ensure that negotiations were resumed.