Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Taoiseach believed all that. The Labour Party established the Policing Authority and it will do everything it can to ensure that it, or a version of it, is maintained into the future. My colleague, Deputy Howlin, drove that development. Successive reports of the authority, whose work I commend, showed that An Garda Síochána was not moving at the pace it should. One of the most important functions of the Policing Authority is the power to appoint senior gardaí, instead of the appointments being made through the Garda Commissioner and signed off, in some cases, by the Cabinet. The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland recommended that the Policing Authority be disbanded and replaced by a new body. Fine Gael agreed with its recommendation. Under the plan, the power to promote senior gardaí would be given to the Garda Commissioner while other Policing Authority powers would be transferred to an internal Garda board.

The Taoiseach, I and Sinn Féin opposed that. We believe An Garda Síochána needs less, not more, of an in-house policing mentality. We do not believe that all the lessons that have been learned over recent years will continue to be learned if there is a situation where the power to appoint senior gardaí is back in-house. Does the Taoiseach intend to implement the O'Toole report or does he intend to implement the minority report, which is the report we support and keeps the appointment of such senior people with a policing authority? I accept there must be rationalisation of a number of Garda organisations, but what is the Taoiseach's position on this key point? I do not see anything in the legislative programme on this issue. What is the Government's position regarding the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland report and particularly the role of the Policing Authority?

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