The Dáil has heard that scrapping the Lansdowne Road pay deal could cost the state between €300m and €400m a year.
Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe said it is impossible to put a cost on any potential replacement - because nobody knows what it would contain.
Members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) have been voting on a pay deal recommended by the Labour Court, with a result expected next week.
The GRA National Executive has not recommended whether its members should accept or reject the deal, however the decision will have huge ramifications for any future talks on public sector pay.
Earlier this month, the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) gave the government until December to decide if it will enter into new pay talks early in 2017.
Minister Donohoe told the Dáil this afternoon he is not in a position to provide a cost for any “proposal that ICTU might make to me in the future” but warned it is likely to be very high.
“What the figures are overall is that the cost of any kind of adjustment in relation to the Lansdowne Road Agreement per month is between €25m and €30m," he said.
The result of the GRA vote on the Labour Court pay deal for gardaí is expected to be announced on November 28th.
