Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Even at present there is misunderstanding about some of the appointments. The most senior appointments are subject to an independent process at present, with a lay chairperson and two lay members of the panel. Clearly what we are doing with the new policing authority represents a sea-change on appointments. The authority will now have responsibility for overseeing the process of those senior appointments.

That is quite a change. The authority will be responsible for selecting the process to be used. It is expected that, in some instances, it will use the public appointments service and, in others, the body which oversees public appointments generally. It now has the authority to make the decision on how the process will be conducted. There have been suggestions of politicisation in Garda appointments, but I certainly have no experience of this, nor did my predecessor. To ensure the transparency people now demand, the police authority clearly will have a critical role.

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