Garda access to the State’s industrial relations procedures is to be provided as quickly as possible, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

He said the Government had accepted the principle of having the State's machinery available to gardaí in the form of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court.

He added he had asked Attorney General Máire Whelan and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald to bring forward the heads of the required legislation.

"I recall when various arrangements for public pay and conditions were dealt with previously, gardaí always said they were outside the room, they had no input, no contribution to make, and were not treated in the way they felt they should be,'' Mr Kenny said. "It is an important issue for gardaí.''

He said it was the Government’s “absolute intention’’ that the machinery should be available on a permanent basis to gardaí from now on, having been made available on an ad hoc basis in the current dispute.

He hoped the garda representative groups would listen carefully to what the Labour Court had to say on the planned industrial action.

“Nobody in this country wants to see a situation where, for the first time ever, the Garda force and members of the AGSI will withdraw their services from doing their public duty.’’

Mr Kenny said he would appeal again to “people on all sides’’ to accept that gardaí should resile from the strike if that was the independent view of the Labour Court, and have it examine the issues on the table.

Public servants

The Taoiseach warned there would be “no winners’’ if the strike went ahead.

He said there was one thing they could not escape from. “There are 280,000 other public servants who have signed up for a deal under the Lansdowne Road agreement. And we have to treat everybody in the same way.’’

He said the issue was of the utmost seriousness for the country, society and for An Garda Síochána.

The Cabinet, he added, had discussed the matter in some detail on Tuesday, and was briefed on the “very significant’’ offer made to resolve the dispute.

“We have made it perfectly clear it must be resolved within the constraints and limits of the Lansdowne Road agreement.’’

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the country was facing an unprecedented withdrawal of labour on the part of rank-and file-gardaí and higher-level sergeants and inspectors."This is a very dangerous situation and is quite unprecedented.''

Last minute

Sinn Féin leader

Gerry Adams

said the Government had not dealt with the dispute with the necessary urgency.

“We have known of this pending crisis for months but the Government failed to actively seek an early resolution. Many people are asking why everything is always left to the last minute.’’

Labour TD Sean Sherlock said 564 Garda stations would be empty if the strike went ahead. Labour leader Brendan Howlin had proposed the establishment of a social dialogue that would involve public servants in discussions relating to public service provision as well as pay.

He said the Labour leader had also argued for the need to begin negotiations formally for a successor deal to the Lansdowne Road agreement. His party had also proposed an employer-labour conference be established.