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

This is a large grouping of amendments so we are forced to speak to a range of them at the same time. I imagine this will take considerable time.

The first group of amendments I wish to speak to are amendments Nos. 9 to 13, inclusive and 15 to 21, inclusive. These amendments are in line with the need for the authority to be truly independent. The Minister should not be permitted to appoint the Garda Commissioner. The role of the authority under this Bill in recommending the appointment is not strong enough and there should be an amendment to allow for the authority to appoint the Garda Commissioner directly. If the Garda Commissioner is going to be accountable to the authority, the latter must have effective powers and mechanisms to oversee the appointment and removal of the Garda Commissioner. These amendments would correct the Bill and achieve that objective.

The next set of amendments includes amendments Nos. 23 to 35, inclusive. In line with the need for the authority to be truly independent, the Minister should not be permitted to appoint the deputy Garda commissioner. The role of the authority under this Bill in recommending the appointment is not strong enough. This should be amended to allow for the authority to directly appoint a deputy Garda commissioner. A deputy Garda commissioner will be accountable to the Garda Commissioner who is accountable to the authority. The authority needs to have effective powers and mechanisms to oversee the appointment and removal of the deputy Garda commissioners.

The next set of amendments includes amendments Nos. 37 to 62, inclusive. These amendments relate to the need for the authority to have the power to appoint directly and remove ranks from superintendent up. The Bill must be amended to reflect this. Our objective is that the authority would oversee every promotion and appointment in An Garda Síochána, from sergeant right through to Garda Commissioner. Right now, there is a view among members of An Garda Síochána that many promotions over the years were not down to meritocracy but rather who one knew. That is not to slight every officer promoted, as there are many fine senior officers in An Garda Síochána. That is a perception we must remove by putting in place oversight that is clearly independent and based on a meritocracy. In a football team, if a player is picked based on performance, the entire team has belief and it is better for everybody. If it is felt that somebody has not been appointed under a meritocracy, there is an impact on the morale. That applies in the police service and, more important, the service delivered to the public, so we must deal with that.

I will speak to amendment No. 62 which relates to the current provision allowing the Minister to hold, initiate and oversee inquiries on policing matters. That must be amended to give this power to the authority. Amendments No. 70 to 73, inclusive, are technical amendments in line with the new provisions relating to the removal of officers. The basis of amendment No. 76 is to amend the Bill to provide that the Minister's consent is not required for appointment of civilian Garda staff and to give oversight to the authority in this regard.

There is a list of all the powers retained by either the Minister or the Government over policing. The temptation might be to justify these individually but consideration of the totality of this crucial list indicates the scale of control that remains centrally vested. For example, the Garda Commissioner and deputy Garda commissioner will be appointed and removed by the Government. The Garda Commissioner is accountable to the Government and it has been stated that the Garda Commissioner will remain accountable to the Government on matters of national security, but that is not accurate. The original provision on accountability is not altered. The Garda Commissioner will remain accountable to the Minister for the performance of the Garda Commissioner's functions and those of An Garda Síochána. This concerns all aspects of policing and not just national security. Policing plans, strategies and priorities must be confirmed by the Government according to the Bill and security priorities will be set by the Government. The budget is also set by the Government.

The Minister may demand any documents of An Garda Síochána and issue written directives to An Garda Síochána and the authority. Closed circuit television schemes must be approved by the Minister and ministerial consent is required for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to investigate the Garda Commissioner. The Minister decides the number of senior rank positions and consents to the number of civilian staff, the appointment of members to the audit committee and the appointment of the chief executive officer of the authority. The Minister decides what constitutes State security. Government consent is required for gardaí to work with a police service in another state and the Minister authorises delegation of the Garda Commissioner's functions to the deputy Garda Commissioner. The Minister may appoint a person to inquire into any aspect of policing, and statistical information on crime compiled by An Garda Síochána is to go to the Minister and not the authority.

Members can see that a serious set of powers is retained by the Government through the Minister. We hoped the amendments from the Opposition could be engaged with but instead, for the fourth day in a row, that will not happen. I have been justice spokesperson for three years now and I was foreign affairs spokesperson for my party before that, but I have never seen a case where there were two days of Committee Stage debate and two days of Report Stage debate with the Minister absent for all of them. I say this with all due respect to the Minister of State present. We have seen two Ministers of State, one of whom is loosely attached to the justice portfolio, but the Minister of State present has no attachment to justice. It is outrageous that this happens when Opposition justice spokespersons have engaged in good faith and rightly have put much work into this Bill because it is of immense importance. This is one of the important planks mentioned by the Government in the reform of An Garda Síochána arising from the various scandals going back to the Morris tribunal. This is big stuff but we have not had a Minister before us.

Do not give us the guff that the Minister is doing important business. She has been doing so over recent days but we did not set the schedule, because the Government does that. It is-----

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