Staff representatives of the 200 most senior operational officers in the Garda Siochna are considering a High Court action against the Government over unsettled pay negotiations.
The representatives say there is extreme discord among their ranks over the failure to settle pay claims, some of which date from 1990. One source said the Government was taking the loyalty of senior officers for granted and that "a clash was looming."
The officers' negotiators are to meet senior officials from the Departments of Justice and Finance on Monday to discuss their claims.
One of the issues angering the staff associations is the claimed failure of Government officials to supply them with details about a pension deal negotiated by lower ranks in 1994.
The "pensionability of allowances" deal is reckoned to have been worth about 4 per cent to members of garda, sergeant and inspector ranks. But it was not applied to superintendents and higher ranks.
The representatives of the 163 Garda superintendents are understood to be preparing to seek a High Court discovery writ to force the Government to reveal the value and extent of the "pensionability" deal for the lower ranks.
It is understood the superintendents will have the backing of the 43 officers of chief superintendent rank, who are also known to be highly dissatisfied with the lack of progress in their pay talks.
Sources in the associations said yesterday that the Government side had failed to engage in negotiations with senior Garda ranks. Claims remained unsettled since 1990, when the two associations lodged a demand for a 15 per cent pay increase.
The sources pointed out that in the past decade the amount of work carried out by senior officers had greatly increased, but that there had been no significant increase in Garda management numbers and no compensation for the extra work.
Operational superintendents, including those involved in the most dangerous and sensitive areas such as the Special Branch, surveillance, drugs and criminal assets, have no entitlement to overtime payments.
Chief superintendents, as well as having no overtime allowances, are expected to be on call at all times to oversee important legal matters, or the management of emergencies, or big public order operations.
Dissatisfaction had reached new levels and a meeting of chief superintendents to discuss their pay claim last week was described as "very difficult".
One of the main sources of annoyance is the knowledge that many officers of lower ranks are earning significantly more than their superiors, who are not entitled to overtime and other allowances.
It recently emerged that more than a third of the officers of garda and sergeant rank earned more than the entry salary for a superintendent, of just over £30,000. Most operations officers of the next rank up, inspectors, are said to earn significantly more than superintendents.
Senior gardai are expressing concern that the anomaly in pay levels whereby senior officers are paid less than their juniors has created a situation where young, capable officers are not going forward for promotion.
Figures issued by the Department of Justice to the Garda associations showed that last year 3,503 officers of garda and sergeant ranks earned more than superintendents. The high earnings last year among officers of garda and sergeant rank was reflected in the force's highest ever overtime bill - £44 million for the year.
The Chief Superintendents' Association brought a High Court action against the Government secretly in 1993 during the course of the PESP negotiations (which ended in 1994), seeking an order of mandamus to force the officials' side to reappoint an arbitrator. The action failed.