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

Following the retirement of the Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O'Sullivan, the process is under way to appoint her successor. It is primarily the job of the Policing Authority and the Public Appointments Service, PAS, working together to find the best candidate for that job. The Deputy quoted a salary figure, but certainly there is no decision by the Government regarding that figure, regardless of what reports may have indicated in that respect. Clearly, the issue of recruiting the very best candidate is important and the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland is also examining the kinds of skills that are needed to run a large-scale, 21st century policing service, and it will be giving the Minister for Justice and Equality its views on that.

The Deputy referred to structured mechanisms. The best structured mechanism recently was the agreement on public sector pay. There is no question of abandoning the structured mechanisms that we have. However, there is an issue with some jobs and there is some flexibility to attract the right candidate, whether that is to run aspects of our health service or other areas. That will always be dealt with in a careful away. I take the Deputy's point about the danger of setting precedents and changing the approach to top level pay in the Civil Service and elsewhere but, clearly, there are recruitment difficulties, about which every Member will be well aware, given the competition for people. More and more we are seeing gaps in services because of the difficulties in recruitment. This issue needs to be considered because we want the very best people to run our services. The Deputy quoted one arena where, clearly, that is very important but there are others as well.

The structured mechanisms are important in terms of the review of top level pay. We have to accept that there are difficulties increasingly in filling some senior management posts. We all want better management, whether it is in health or housing or a range of other areas. This is an issue which the Government will consider carefully in each instance but clearly, there is a broader approach, which the Deputy has outlined, and there is no intention to depart from that.

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