The GRA and AGSI both met with the Minister for Justice and the Public Expenditure Minister at Government Buildings this evening as efforts continue to try and avert Friday’s threatened Garda strike.

The GRA talks ended with no further development and they are now headed to the Labour Court tomorrow.

The AGSI talks are continuing.

The Garda Commissioner has written to members of the GRA and the AGSI directing them to turn up to work on Friday, and cancelling all leave on the day.

Minister Frances Fitzgerald says the Department has been working on contingency plans for months, but the focus is on resolving the dispute and avoiding a strike: “Clearly I have to be careful and the Garda Commissioner has to be careful because there are people, who once they are told about those services would seek to exploit precisely what those contingency plans are but of course I’m also conscious that the community will need reassurance.

“But let me be clear, there’s no service that substitutes for 12,800 members of An Garda Síochána and that’s why the focus is on avoiding that situation.”