Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply, but he still has not dealt with the central issue I raised, namely, the unfairness to the eight individuals who succeeded in this competition but who are now told that the panel of which they were a part will not be accepted by the Government. Everyone in this House - or most people in this House - welcomes the fact that, in future, important decisions in An Garda Síochána as to who should be promoted will be made by the Policing Authority. That is a positive development. However, we need to consider where we are at present. We do not have that system in place. We do not have a system in place whereby the regulations are available to the Policing Authority, which in turn has the power to promote individuals within An Garda Síochána. Consequently, we are operating under the old regime. Everyone welcomes the transition that will take place. However, since we are still operating under the old regime, fairness dictates that the individuals who were on that panel and who had a legitimate expectation that it would be kept intact should be entitled to promotion to the position of chief superintendent.

I note that the Minister of State says it is the expectation of the Minister that all of this new regime will be in place shortly. We do not know that will be the case. On many occasions in this House we have been told that there is an expectation that something will be done shortly. We cannot allow the governance of this country to come to a standstill simply because we are waiting for a new statutory regime to be put in place. That is what has been done in respect of the appointment of judges. It now appears it is being done in respect of the promotion of individuals within An Garda Síochána to chief superintendent. The job of Government is to govern. Nobody can criticise the Government for the fact that there are vacancies within An Garda Síochána for positions of chief superintendent if it now proceeds to fill them.

I will conclude by saying once again that the eight individuals who succeeded in this competition and who are on the panel - and that panel has resulted in certain individuals being promoted - have a legitimate expectation and a right to expect fairness from this Government.

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