The leader of Ireland’s police force, Commissioner Drew Harris, will have a meeting with the Garda Representative Association (GRA) on Thursday.
It happened after police officers took action on the first day, which caused problems with policing in Ireland.
In simple words: A lot of busy parts of Dublin only had one police car, so they were in a hurry to find an officer to protect the Irish president’s home, called Áras an Uachtaráin.
This made people worry about how they would be able to control any protests that might happen on budget day, which is on 10 October – the next planned day for people to take action.
Politicians were scared by groups of people outside the Irish Parliament building when they came back to work after the summer break in September.
The meeting has been set up in the hopes of stopping the five-day refusal of extra work hours by regular police officers due to disagreements about work schedules.
The commissioner had four meetings with the Garda associations together in the last week, but it didn’t achieve anything.
The action started on Tuesday and will continue for the next four Tuesdays, which includes Budget Day and Halloween.
Workers will go on strike on November 10th if they don’t reach an agreement.
But one police officer who talked to BBC News NI said that everyone feels that neither side will change their position in the upcoming meeting.
“Harris has already decided, so we shouldn’t expect any change from either side until after Budget Day,” they said.
The disagreement revolves around bringing back the Westmanstown roster.
This means going back to working six days a week like before the pandemic, and then having four days off.
The regular police officers used to work for four days and then have four days off, and most of them preferred this schedule because it allowed for a better balance between their work and personal life, among other reasons.
In July, the police associations were told three months in advance that they would start using the Westmanstown Roster again on November 6th.
The GRA stated that if there was a six-day work week, certain members would have to work an extra 47 days each year. This would lead to more time and money being spent on commuting and childcare.
Last month, Belfast-born Mr. Harris was voted against with a lot of disapproval by the GRA. As a result, it was decided that voluntary overtime would no longer be offered.
The officers are feeling good and hopeful about going on strike.
A spokesperson for the Garda told BBC News NI that the commissioner had said multiple times that he and the Garda management were open to having serious discussions with the Garda associations in order to create a new schedule that is best for the policing needs of the people in Ireland and the police officers themselves.
“The spokesperson added that the commissioner had said this many times last week. ”
The GRA recently told the Garda management that they will only discuss a new roster if they go back to the Westmanstown Roster on November 6th. This announcement came after the announcement about rotas was made more than two months ago.
The Westmanstown Roster’s comeback will give this country’s people an extra 500,000 hours of policing, which is like having 320 more police officers, compared to the Covid-19 emergency roster.
“This means that there will be more police officers working, which will make them more visible and provide better assistance to crime victims. ”
According to An Garda Síochána, the Commissioner and Garda management did not set any conditions for the talks.
The Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said many times that she will not get involved in the matter.
“I will not give orders to the Garda commissioner or any members about their working schedule or location,” she said in an interview with RTÉ Radio this week.