Mr. Derek Mullen:

I thank the Deputy. Over recent years we have been making progress in regard to civilianisation in An Garda Síochána, albeit slow progress. We have been critical of this draft Bill because we believe it overextends the power of GSOC in respect of the civilian members we represent. The Deputy asked if there are other arrangements that may suffice. We have tried to make clear in our opening statement and in our submission to the committee that civil servants working in An Garda Síochána and across Civil Service Departments are covered by particular codes, including standards in public office and the code of ethics. Where issues arise, there are very robust procedures to deal with them, specifically the Civil Service disciplinary code, which addresses breaches in regard to both ethics in the Civil Service and the Official Secrets Act. All of that has sufficed to date. The difficulty is we now have draft heads of a Bill which propose to take it much further and to define Garda civilian staff in the same way as Garda sworn personnel who have significant powers over and above all of the civil servants we represent. That is the difficulty for us, that there are procedures in place but to a great extent they are being ignored in the draft legislation.