DUBLIN FIRE CREWS have expressed their solidarity with members of An Garda Síochána who are due to go on strike on Friday morning.
At least two unofficial Facebook pages have posted this image, stating: ‘We stand beside our brothers in blue’.
Members of the Phibsboro station urged followers to show support for gardaí “who have had enough”.
“Restore our pay and stop the cuts!” a post on the page says.
Nutgrove fire station also shared the image.
One member of the Dublin Fire Brigade told TheJournal.ie: “We fully support the gardaí, on the ground we see what they go through.”
There would have been a link historically there with pay parity between psychiatric nurses, firefighters and gardaí but with the Haddington Road Agreement, those pay links became more strained.
Since Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan yesterday directed all members of the force to come into work Friday, large numbers of gardaí have changed their profile picture on Facebook to one of a group of gardaí with their arms around one another.
Garda representatives are presenting submissions at the Labour Court today, in a last-ditch attempt to avert Friday’s strike. It is possible the associations will be asked to defer the industrial action while talks are ongoing, but this is not likely to be a popular move among members, many of whom were incensed by the Commissioner’s letter.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, AGSI President Antoinette Cunningham said her organisation’s energies were now focused on being proactive and trying to come to a resolution.
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