Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has given commitments. In fairness to him and to his officials, I will not call a vote or press this amendment further at this stage but I reserve the right to come back to it on Report Stage. There is one point I wish to raise, however. It relates to this idea that we will have a single organisation and everybody will just work for An Garda Síochána without differentiation between members and staff - that there will be a corps of civilian staff and members of An Garda Síochána working arm in arm and hand in hand for the betterment of the State. There is a fundamental difference, however. If you join the Civil Service at any level, such as the level of administrative officer, you can hope to become the Secretary General of a Department. People do. It is fanciful to suggest that a member of the civilian staff of An Garda Síochána will become Garda Commissioner or an inspector in An Garda Síochána or join the upper management of An Garda Síochána without having to go through a separate entry process and through Templemore or without being from Northern Ireland, which seems to be the essential prerequisite for being a member of Garda management at the moment.