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RollingNews.ie

Pressure increases on government as unions set a six-day deadline

Union groups Siptu and ICTU have said that the Lansdowne Road agreement is no longer relevant after the garda pay deal.

EXPENDITURE MINISTER Paschal Donohoe has said that he “disagrees” with comments made this afternoon that the Lansdowne Road agreement “is no longer viable”.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) General Secretary Patricia King told RTÉ News earlier today that the public sector pay agreement is no longer relevant after the government offered a better pay deal to the gardaí.

“They agreed more favourable terms with a group who are outside and never part of the Lansdowne Road Agreement,” she said.

Minister Donohoe said that he disagreed with this sentiment, but said the one thing they did agree on, was that they needed a collective agreement on public pay.

The other option would be a ‘free for all’ where unions will separately seek pay increases, but King said that she got “no indication” from the government that that’s what they wanted.

Garda strikes

A fortnight ago, thousands of gardaí threatened strike action over pay and work conditions, which forced the government into new pay negotiations.

The Labour Court made recommendations including increased rent supplement and extra payments for days off to the gardaí, after which the garda trade unions announced that all planned strike action would be called off.

King said that the garda pay deal was ‘clearly a breach’ of Lansdowne Road and that the government admitted so themselves.

The Government has no choice if it wants to stay in collective agreement, other than restarting negotiations on a new pay deal.

Speaking on RTÉ tonight Minister Donohoe said that he had said the garda pay deal would have “far-reaching ramifications” for public pay, and has expressed concerns before that there isn’t enough money to solve all industrial disputes.

Earlier this week Siptu president Jack O’Connor said that if the government didn’t announce a date for new public pay talks by next Thursday, that they would ballot their members for industrial action.

King said that ICTU had made contact with the Department for Expenditure and made clear that they had “very strong expectations” of discussions, and expected them to happen sooner rather than later.

“Contact is ongoing nearly on a daily basis, so we would expect in coming weeks to get a date for renegotiations.”

Read: SIPTU threatens to ballot all 60,000 members unless Government sits down for pay talks

Read: GRA general secretary survives no confidence vote as AGSI calls for members to accept pay deal

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41 Comments
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    Mute Tony Hardwicke
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 9:48 PM

    Lucky to not gotten his head shot off

    101
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    Mute B9xiRspG
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 11:38 PM

    I was wonder why they didn’t. If the car was fill of explosives…..

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    Mute Paul J. Redmond
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 9:28 PM

    From Russia with love. And vodka

    98
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    Mute John Doyle
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 9:29 PM

    As ya do. If I ever need love I’m gonna drive around the Ilac shopping centre

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    Mute John O'Neill
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 11:43 PM

    Count your wheels afterwards.

    55
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    Mute Wurley Burgoh
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 10:06 PM

    What a legend. Was rooting for him as it went on.
    Keep on truckin’ Vlad

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    Mute The Viking
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 10:02 PM

    What I want to know is.. How in God’s name did he get it past the metal detector..

    52
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    Mute sparky
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 10:10 PM

    @ The Viking..it was a lada he was driving..

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    Mute Lazlo Saint Pierre
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 11:43 PM

    @The Viking: 1st gear, around 10mph

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    Mute Lazlo Saint Pierre
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 10:11 PM

    That video is crying out for the Benny Hill theme tune!

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    Mute Denise Daly
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    Dec 24th 2016, 1:18 AM

    Haha totally Benny Hill style Lazlo!!

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    Mute Roland D Hay
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 10:53 PM

    At least he had his hazard warning lights on…

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    Mute Chris Jordan
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 10:42 PM

    Headline is shite. WTF.

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    Mute midlandsbased
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    Dec 24th 2016, 12:42 AM

    OK… I’ll say it… Only because I’ve had a fee bottles of miller.. Should that be “rushing man” … *hands head in shame……and submits cv to the journal to help writing headlines.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Dec 24th 2016, 12:30 AM

    This is hilarious. That tall man closing both doors behind him, then – flip!

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    Mute Cathal Leonard
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    Dec 24th 2016, 5:30 AM

    He’s a real keeper

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    Mute James Brown
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    Dec 24th 2016, 7:16 AM

    I knew my girlfriend was a keeper the first time I met her….. she was wearing a huge pair of gloves.

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    Mute Colm Byrne
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    Dec 24th 2016, 1:53 AM

    So romantic

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    Mute Pat Hannon
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    Dec 24th 2016, 11:32 AM

    And all because the lady loves Milktray…

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    Mute Armonline
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    Dec 24th 2016, 10:54 AM

    I blame Love Actually. Liam Neeson encouraged his kid to run through airport security and suffered no consequences.

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