Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The difficulty is that the legislation does not address the appointment of sergeants to the position of superintendent and, possibly, chief superintendent. That is where there is a big issue. I submitted ten questions to the Minister six months ago. Her response at the time was that she would refer them to the Garda Commissioner, but I have yet to receive responses to them. My concerns are around the level of oversight by the Department and, soon I hope, the police authority of the entire promotions process in An Garda Síochána. In the context of the debate on reform, this needs to happen from the bottom up, including how people are promoted, with independent oversight. I have concerns about this issue, as reflected in my questions. I ask that they be responded to as soon as possible.

My second concern relates to the independent adjudicator, an issue we dealt with in the context of the Garda Síochána (Amendment) Bill. If the police authority asks questions of An Garda Síochána and it responds that it cannot provide information for security reasons, an independent adjudicator, namely, a judge, rather than the Minister, should oversee the process so as to remove any accusation of a Minister being too close to the Garda and so on.

These are the two issues I want to flag as being of concern to me.

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