Gardaí from across the country have called on the Government to “give us back our pay” and threatened to take militant action in order to realise their goal.
The new president of the Garda Representative Association, Ciaran O'Neill, said the association's annual conference, which is taking place in Killarney, was about "pay restoration".
“We want our pay back- give us back our pay,” he said.
The conference heard members were not seeking a pay rise but rather to claw back the money lost when pay cuts were imposed on them in 2008. Garda pay would be one of the toughest challenges facing any new government, delegates heard.
A number of delegates called for immediate and sustained "action" with Mick Corcoran, of Cork City, saying the politicians being protected by uniformed gardaí from water protesters should reflect that new recruits were being paid just €4,000 above the minimum wage.
‘Sustained campaign’
Damien McCarthy, of Dublin Metropolitan Region, a former president of the GRA, called for “a sustained campaign” of action.
“The message is simple and clear: give us back our pay…We will march, we will protest, we will do everything we can,” he said.
There was a difference of €6,000 in the starting pay for a young garda when compared to a young PSNI officer, the conference was told.
Some 1,000 gardaí were assaulted each year.
There was a minute's silence for the late Tony Golden with the conference hearing that a total of 88 gardaí had lost their lives in duty over theyears.
Other delegates complained the technology they used was 20 years old.
Delegates are also expected to campaign for armed back-up support at night-time for rural gardaí.
A motion by Donegal delegates asks if it is "realistic" to maintain the concept of An Garda Síochána as an unarmed police force in an era of rising violent crime and the threat of international terrorism.
Delegates have said that in rural areas they sometimes have to wait for one or two hours for armed back-up and this was unacceptable.