The way has been cleared for an acceleration of a programme to recruit civilian support staff to An Garda Síochána after a decision by the Labour Court to reject equal pay claims by clerical personnel.
The Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU), which represents the staff concerned, had previously indicated that a victory in relation to civilians working alongside gardaí would form the basis of equal pay claims by clerical officers across the Civil Service.
The union had lodged more than 7,000 follow-on claims with the Equality Tribunal, which could have cost the State €300 million in back money and €100 million per annum on an ongoing basis.
The case involved 14 civilian clerical officers employed by An Garda Síochána to carry out administrative work.
The clerical staff claimed that because they were performing the same tasks as gardaí filling administrative posts they should be paid the same as those Garda members. They initially won their claim at the Equality Tribunal in 2005.
However, the Department of Justice appealed the decision to the Labour Court. Hearings took place last October and May. A judgment in the case upholding the appeal was delivered last week but, according to the Department of Justice, has been governed by a reporting moratorium until now.
The CPSU case was brought on gender grounds. It pointed out that most gardaí doing administrative duties were men and most civilian administrators were women.
The union argued that the Garda members were unfairly being paid more than the civilian workers despite performing the same duties and lodged a claim for equal remuneration on gender grounds.
However, the Department of Justice and the Garda said the disparity in remuneration was not gender-based but was based on Garda members being entitled to higher rates of pay by virtue of their membership of An Garda Síochána.
Both told the Labour Court that Garda members were needed to fill some administrative posts which required a specialist knowledge and experience of front-line policing.
They also claimed some administrative posts involved the holder liaising with agencies such as Europol and Interpol, both of which would only deal with Garda members and not civilian workers.
The department and Garda authorities also told the Labour Court that because Garda members were banned from taking industrial action, they were needed to fill administrative posts in order that the force's work would not grind to a halt in the event of the civilian staff going on strike.
The Labour Court, chaired by Kevin Duffy, accepted the evidence that the disparity on pay was based on the grounds put forward by the Department of Justice rather than on gender. It granted the appeal.
The Labour Court's decision can be appealed to the High Court. While the ruling calls into question the likelihood of success of the estimated 7,000 follow-on pay claims with the Equality Tribunal, these will have to be adjudicated on.
The Department of Justice welcomed the Labour Court's ruling. It said the ruling confirmed that neither the department nor the Garda Commissioner had "behaved in a discriminatory manner as claimed".
It also said the way was now clear for the accelerated recruitment to the Garda of an initial 600 civilian support workers who will free up Garda members for front-line policing.
About 300 clerical officers from elsewhere in the Civil Service have already moved to work for the Garda. A further 300 clerical officers will move soon. Six hundred new Garda clerical officer posts have been approved by the Department of Finance. The CPSU was not available to comment.