Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

Senator Walsh makes a very good point. The making of appointments under Better Local Government has been a disaster from many points of view. It has divided local authority staff as between people who were promoted and people who were not. People believe the promotions were in no way transparent.

Will the promotion boards be set up on an area basis or on a national basis? Will there be a separate promotion board for each rank or one board for the entire membership of the Garda Síochána, given that there are only 10,000 members and I do not know how many promotions? Whatever is done should be transparent because we need a force that works for the betterment of the community. We would not want a force that is divided, as are the staff in many local authorities. We can do without that, particularly in the Garda Síochána. The Minister should tread very carefully regarding the membership of promotion boards, how many there will be and from where their personnel come.