Eight thousand gardai are to be balloted on a pay offer to settle the long-running dispute which led to last year's two days of industrial action.
After months of negotiation and almost two months of submission to an adjudication board, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) last night agreed terms to be put to its membership.
The deal consists of an effective 4 per cent increase on top of a 9 per cent rise awarded to gardai after last year's industrial action, the first in the history of the force.
The 4 per cent comprises a pay increase of about 2.5 per cent and a rise in allowance payments that adds a further 1.5 per cent.
Government sources said yesterday the structuring of the deal meant it was within national pay agreement limits and broadly in line with pay awards made to prison officers.
The pay agreement is also linked to a productivity package in which city gardai have to accept new working rosters, an increase in the number of Garda jobs being taken over by civilian staff, and the operation of a new national computer system.
Gardai in Dublin last night indicated they were unhappy with the prospect of changes to their working arrangements without further compensation. However, the extent of opposition to the pay deal is not clear. As part of the settlement there will be a lump-sum payment dating back 15 months which could give many officers more than £1,000 in their next pay packet if the deal is accepted at ballot.
There was widespread expectation that the deal would be accepted as it is only a settlement of the 1994-1997 pay round, the Programme for Competitiveness in Work (PCW), which the rest of the State's workforce settled two years ago.
Gardai now begin negotiations for the latest pay round, Programme 2000, in which they are seeking further special pay increases.
However, the decision to put the offer to a national ballot was being seen by Garda management and the Government as a breakthrough in what have been prolonged and, at times, turbulent negotiations.
Acceptance of the deal would enable Garda management to implement a new £55 million computer system, known as PULSE (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively) which is being installed in stations across the State.
If there had been no agreement, the GRA and the AGSI, the association representing sergeants and inspectors, had threatened not to use the new computers.