Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 43:

In page 54, to delete lines 33 to 38, and in page 55, to delete lines 1 to 5.

The purpose of these amendments is to continue to facilitate the Garda Commissioner in appointing persons as members of Garda staff. However, they also remove the effect of civilian staff of An Garda Síochána who are civil servants of the Government immediately before the coming into operation of this section and who are designated by order of the Minister automatically becoming members of Garda staff. The Garda Commissioner can still employ these people and they can still move over, but it will be a more voluntary process as opposed to the idea of them going from being civil servants to employees of An Post at the flick of a pen. We are not discussing An Post in this instance, but what is envisaged is a similar process to the one that occurred when An Post and Telecom Éireann were separated from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs.

Being a civil servant has advantages and disadvantages. Many low-ranking civil servants will say that they are not particularly well paid. In fact, they are not well paid at all on the bottom rungs. However, they have mobility when entering the Civil Service and can hope to work in any part of the country or in any Department. That there may be considerable flexibility in being a civil servant is an important consideration for many people who join the Civil Service. In this section, though, that is being removed from them.

Many members of the Civil Service who are working in the Garda signed up to be civil servants. They joined the Civil Service, but now they are being told that they will not be civil servants anymore and will be limited to the civilian staff of An Garda Síochána. Once that order is made, the possibility of moving to other Departments is gone and the mobility that being a member of the Civil Service entailed is removed from staff and is no longer an option. That seems inherently unfair. Obviously, people are free to move and the Garda Commissioner is free to make them offers that are attractive, but treating them in the manner envisaged, or in the manner the Minister is empowered to treat them, is inherently unfair and something with which I would have a problem.

Just to be clear, the second amendment means that Schedule 3 will still apply to the person being moved pursuant to an order but after a more voluntary process is engaged in. That is the purpose of these amendments. I should say that previous guarantees given by governments - the Minister will be relieved to hear I am not talking about governments he has supported but about governments that were in place perhaps before he was born - at the time of the establishment of An Post and Telecom Éireann and when employees in the Department of Transport were moved into air traffic control with regard to parity of pensions, conditions and so on were not fully adhered to. Obviously, there are technical arguments between actuaries about the import and impact of these measures but, ultimately, those in Vodafone and An Post who were once employees of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs were placed in different PRSI classes to those who were not and are still in those classes to this day. That is something else we have to look at. The State has a history of not honouring its agreements with people in these positions. It is more about moving people who joined the Civil Service out of it against their will. I have no problem with people leaving the Civil Service if they choose to but it should be their choice.