Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies McNamara and Daly. Before I share my briefing and thoughts on this matter, I will say at the outset that there will be further engagement with the staff associations and trade unions. I intend to meet with Fórsa very shortly. The deputy secretary general of the Department of Justice intends to meet with the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants by the end of the month. I am conscious that we are on Committee Stage of the legislation, that there is still Report Stage to complete and that the Bill needs to go to the other House of the Oireachtas in due course. The staff bodies and trade unions have concerns and I will not misrepresent their position by suggesting they believe these concerns have been addressed. They have concerns they want to discuss with me and with the Department. There will be such engagement and there will be an opportunity for them to update their members on how they feel that engagement went. That is the first thing I want to say.

After Deputy McNamara's comments, I do not need to repeat the purpose of the amendments but I will provide the rationale. The number of Garda staff has increased substantially in recent years and it will continue to grow. This is in the context of a long-standing policy over many governments to increase the civilianisation of Garda functions where this approach is appropriate. That is something nobody disagrees with. In the context of increasing civilianisation, Garda staff are performing a much wider range of roles, now including front-facing roles in Garda stations and roles on blended investigation teams in areas such as crime analysis, cybercrime and economic crime. These are areas that are only likely to grow further and take on more importance into the future. In addition, the increasing civilianisation of roles further facilitates the redeployment of Garda members to more appropriate operational policing duties for which they trained. This redeployment is ongoing and will continue to increase in the future. I am advised that this trend can be expected to result in further wide-ranging career opportunities, including promotional opportunities for Garda staff, that is to say, civilian staff within An Garda Síochána. While I do not mean to speak for any union, one of the concerns I hear is that Garda staff may view the Civil Service as having more opportunities for promotion and mobility. What I am outlining here is the clear direction of travel. As we expand and grow Garda staff numbers, there will be more promotional opportunities and career pathways.

Where did this rationale come from? A central tenet of the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland was that An Garda Síochána should be seen and treated as a single organisation with a single workforce that shares a common loyalty and mission. That is where this came from. I do not mean to be flippant but it did not drop from the sky. It was a central tenet of the report that there should be a single workforce and a single organisation. The report also found that a more integrated workforce structure was required to leverage the different skills and perspectives of both Garda members and Garda staff, thereby contributing to enhancing the capacity of the organisation to deliver better policing outcomes. The intent is to promote and foster the idea of a rewarding and varied career for all Garda personnel, members and Garda staff alike. Rather than seeing An Garda Síochána as sworn gardaí with Garda staff separate, it should be seen as one singular organisation with one single workforce.

While some views on this matter have focused on the impact of the approach on Civil Service mobility and interdepartmental opportunities for Garda staff, which I have alluded to, it is the intention that, by being recruited directly into An Garda Síochána and training in areas more closely related to policing matters, Garda staff will see themselves as part of that single Garda workforce, will wish to progress their careers with An Garda Síochána and will avail of the expected expansion in the number of promotional opportunities within the organisation. Importantly, those who wish to seek promotional opportunities elsewhere in the public service and Civil Service will not be precluded from doing so through open recruitment competitions. That is important and I will say it again. Those who wish to seek promotional opportunities elsewhere in the public service and Civil Service will not be precluded from doing so through the open recruitment competitions those services run.

It is important to reaffirm that the Bill makes it clear that there can be no change to the Civil Service status of existing Garda staff without prior engagement with any trade union concerned and consideration of the representations made by any such union. I will also address some of the concerns raised regarding the manner of the consultations that have taken place, and will continue to take place, on this matter. It should be noted that as part of the deliberations that informed its report and recommendations, the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland engaged in extensive consultation with unions and representative bodies, including those representing Garda members and Garda staff. This Bill derives from the work of that commission. I reassure Deputies and current Garda staff that dialogue has taken place, and will continue to take place, between Department officials, Garda management and staff trade unions in this regard. I will meet with Fórsa as part of an ongoing engagement envisaged in section 54 and Schedule 3 of the Bill, which was also subject to a public commitment by myself and the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, on Second Stage of this legislation. I am not in a position to support these amendments. There is ongoing engagement. There will be further engagement with representative bodies before Report Stage.