THE ASSOCIATION representing rank-and-file members of the Gardaí, and the trade union representing Ireland’s nurses and midwives, have both signed up to the Haddington Road public pay deal.

84 per cent of members of the Garda Representative Association voted to accept the deal, which will cut pay for high earners but ensure the continued payment of some premiums.

The discussions on the deal marked the first time that a Garda representative body had been directly involved in talks on public pay: on previous occasions Gardaí were only given a consultative role in pay talks, as the GRA is not a formal member of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

GRA general secretary PJ Stone said the association’s duty was to ensure that members did not face extra pay cuts or penalty for working at antisocial hours.

“The agreement worked through the LRC has maintained each member’s earnings in exchange for 30 extra hours work,” he said.

Separately, the country’s fourth-largest trade union, the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation, also said its members had approved the deal on a 71-29 margin.

General secretary Liam Doran said the deal marked the third time in five years that members had faced a reduction to their pay and terms of employment.

“This harsh reality must now be acknowledged, by both government and health service management, in the manner in which the changes provided for, in the Haddington Road Agreement, are now implemented.”

Other major public unions including SIPTU, IMPACT and the INTO have already offered their support for the deal.

The proposals are aimed at reducing the public pay bill by €300 million this year, and by €1 billion between now and 2015.

Read: SIPTU members vote for Haddington Road Agreement

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