Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has not yet discussed contingency plans with the Garda Commissioner for dealing with planned strikes by gardaí, Department of Justice sources have said.
Sources said the Department of Justice considered such contingency arrangements to be an operational matter for Garda management.
Department sources said the Minister was "focussed on finding a resolution" to the disputes involving the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi).
The Government was committed to giving every support to gardaí, Department sources added.
The Department of Justice is to meet with the Agsi on Thursday and the GRA on Friday in an attempt to avert planned industrial action.
Highly-placed Department of Justice sources are reluctant to state at this stage whether planned strikes would be illegal and whether gardaí could face sanctions if they took part in such industrial action.
If gardaí go on strike it will have very serious consequences for all involved including the Government, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has said.
Because of that, the Government was putting its focus and energy into trying to deal with the issues within the framework of the Lansdowne Road agreement and without de-stabilising the public service wage bill which stood at over €15 billion this year, he said.
“We have to ensure if we reach agreement with the Garda bodies in relation to this that it does not have consequences elsewhere for the public service wage bill that creates consequences that the Government and the taxpayer currently cannot afford,” Mr Donohoe told RTÉ Radio.
He said he had the height of respect for the work of the gardaí and the dangers and difficult circumstances they faced but also he had to be mindful of the obligations and agreement that the Government had with other groups of public servants in any agreement reached with gardaí.
He said more than 20 other unions representing about 250,000 staff had signed up to the Lansdowne Road agreement and the Government could not allow this to “unravel”.
The Department of Justice is likely to highlight in talks the “absolute commitment” given by the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald that gardaí will be given access in future to the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court, as well as the Government decision that whatever comes out of a current garda pay review will feed into the overall new Public Service Pay Commission.
The Department has confirmed there was no money in either its budget or the budget of An Garda Siochana for next year to cover any pay rises over and above those provided for under the Lansdowne Road accord.
Asked whether a Garda strike would be illegal, Department of Justice sources said that this would be a matter for the courts to determine.
“We are a long way short of looking at legal action,” they said.
