The Garda pay dispute could end today if the central executive committee of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) agrees to accept a pay deal which could give long-serving officers an increase of up to 13.5 per cent.
Exact details of the proposed settlement were not available last night, but they should emerge after today's meeting of the GRA central executive committee.
The GRA has been demanding a 15 per cent, no-strings-attached increase under the last public pay round, a deal which would have seriously breached Government limits and opened the way for a flood of demands from other unions.
However, there were indications last night that a proposed deal, negotiated after the intervention of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, at the weekend, could come sufficiently close to meeting the GRA's demands without breaching national guidelines.
According to sources, about 40 per cent of the offer to the GRA is a stand-alone payment; about another 35 per cent of it is productivity-related; and about 25 per cent represents long-service top-up payments. The deal will be of greatest benefit to officers with more than 15 years' service.
The offer marks a significant improvement on the original package negotiated by the GRA under the PCW in May 1994, which gave gardai a basic 8 per cent pay rise over the three years 1994-1997 and established extra allowances as "pensionable" income. This increased pensions by between £30 and £43 a week, and retirement gratuities by up to £5,800.
The GRA has not yet begun negotiations about the latest public pay round, Partnership 2000, which has been in place since last year.
Under Partnership 2000's basic offer, gardai are already due 3.5 per cent on top of the deal negotiated yesterday.
There are also likely to be further negotiations on productivity.
In addition, the association has received a commitment from the Government that it will have a hand in further public sector pay negotiations along with the social partners.
The GRA deputy general secretary, Mr P.J. Stone, emerged from talks with Department of Justice officials in Dublin yesterday in a more buoyant mood than in recent weeks, saying that both sides were drawing up details of a document for presentation to his central executive committee.
He told RTE: "We have agreed to try and draw up a document to clearly set out what each other is saying. At least there won't be any misunderstanding at a later stage. Our difficulties all along in relation to these type of gestures has been confusion at the end of some process.
"We have left the official side with the task of clearing up what we believe they are saying and what we are saying to see if we can further advance that."
He said he hoped that if a document emerged which was broadly in agreement with what had been discussed, "we would be in a position to present that to our executive without any further confusion. If all things go according to plan we can discuss that and the executive can make a decision . . . and then determine whether or not it has given us the opportunity to progress further."
Mr Stone said he did not want to be "negative at this stage" but both sides had had a frank exchange and he was satisfied there was now a clearer understanding of both sides' positions.
He pointed out that further development of the Taoiseach's proposal to involve the GRA directly in public pay talks would involve discussions with the employers' group, IBEC, and the ICTU for the unions.
"It is a bit early yet to say that the type of structure that we still want and the type of structure being offered is the same thing.
"Until such times as those discussions start - and I hope they can start immediately if there is progress on the substantive issue of pay - then all of those things can be tied together."