A WORK-TO-RULE INDUSTRIAL action by rank-and-file gardaí has been cancelled ahead of the EU Presidency summit this week.

It is understood that the Garda Representative Association (GRA) will now stand down its action, which was due to start on Tuesday, after talks with the Garda Commissioner.

On 27 October gardaí voted in favour of a work-to-rule in a survey by the GRA. The key issues are around workplace conditions and the alleged abandonment of working time rules during the EU Presidency events.

The GRA’s central executive committee met on Monday evening and voted to lift the industrial action.

For most of the next week gardaí from across the country will be deployed to Dublin and Shannon to manage what is being dubbed as the largest security operation in the history of the State.

In recent days the GRA met with Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly and other senior management to try and find a way through the impasse.

It is understood that during the talks garda management asked the GRA to reconsider and appealed to them to consider the “national interest”.

Civil servants will be striking on 12 November during the European Political Community meeting in Dublin when the main summit is taking place, gardaí will also be restricting their workplace flexibility.

With reporting by Niall O’Connor