Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know the Minister will do this but it is important that we are careful about the make-up of this board. The legislation that was introduced in 2007 proposed a board of six people, three of whom would be members of the Garda - the Commissioner, the deputy commissioner and a member of the civilian staff of An Garda Síochána. There were to be three non-executive members as well who were not going to be members of the Garda or Garda civilian staff.

I was looking at the board recommended by the commission and I am not sure from the recommendations produced whether, for instance, the Commissioner and senior figures within An Garda Síochána would be members of the board. Maybe that is in there but I have not been able to locate it, so that is an issue that Government will have to consider. My reading of it is that it may be that senior Garda figures would not be on the board, which would be different from many other boards where senior figures from the executive end of the business are also on the board and there is a mix of non-executive and executive members. The Minister needs to be careful about that.

The recommendation in respect of the new board is that it should be able to make nominations to Government for the appointments of Commissioners and deputy commissioners, which is something that is done by the Policing Authority at present, but also the board could recommend the removal of a Commissioner. The Minister needs to think about having an internal body that could recommend the removal of a Commissioner. I do not know whether the Commissioner will be a member of that board but it needs to be carefully thought out before giving those strong powers to a board that is within An Garda Síochána.

I refer to the issue of the Policing Authority. I know that the Minister is here to hear our views on this as well. One of the successes of the Government has been the establishment of the Policing Authority. It has worked well. Changing An Garda Síochána is a slow process, but the Policing Authority, through its public hearings, is having a role in achieving that.

The point is made by the commission and the Department that the policing and community safety oversight commission, PCSOC, which will replace the Policing Authority and the Garda Inspectorate, would also have public hearings. Does the Minister have any concerns about terminating the Policing Authority, which has been quite effective, and replacing it with PCSOC?