Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a few questions for the Minister. Occasionally members of An Garda Síochána have gone to work with international organisations such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In these cases the members resigned with an option to reapply to An Garda Síochána when they had completed their work. Is the position similar for Garda members who choose to transfer between the Garda and the PSNI - that they must resign, their pension is frozen and they must apply to rejoin the force? Clarification is necessary. I would like to think the transfer and exchange of personnel between the two forces is something the Government is interested in promoting. The Minister is only a short time in office, but he has introduced much reforming legislation. I ask him to consider undertaking work on the transfer-exchange programme.

I have another question for the Minister. Does the Government have plans in the short or longer term to address the pension issue that acts as a disincentive in transfers between the forces? Will consideration be given to offering incentives to members of An Garda Síochána to transfer to the PSNI for periods of up to three years? This might be mutually beneficial. Will the Minister consider allowing members of An Garda Síochána to assist the PSNI in policing events such as the recent G8 summit? That is what was considered in the Patten agreement, but it is not being implemented. It would provide gardaí with invaluable training-----