Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald. She began her remarks this afternoon by indicating her commitment to deliver a sea change in the oversight of policing in the State. She also outlined her commitment to delivering a comprehensive programme of reform in the oversight, governance and accountability of the Garda Síochána. I acknowledge what the Minister said and commend her on largely delivering on those commitments in a very impressive way. The Bill represents a key element of that process.

However, I have concerns about one aspect of the Bill, which I expressed previously in respect of the work of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality in terms of the establishment of the policing authority. The Minister also indicated in her opening remarks that it is critical that confidence is maintained in the Garda service and the establishment of the policing authority is a key aspect of that. For that confidence to be maintained, the new policing authority must be fully independent. A primary and critical element of the independence of the policing authority is a merit-based recruitment process for the members of the policing authority board, including the appointment of the chair. The new policing authority should be independent from its inception but should also be seen to be independent as well as impartial. As the Minister outlined in her remarks and as Members are aware, the chair’s appointment followed an open process undertaken by the Public Appointments Service, but that process was to seek expressions of interest and on that basis the Government has nominated a chair-designate.

The legislation sets out a different process for selecting ordinary board members. The Minister referred in particular to section 62D where an open selection process is set out for a selection competition for the purpose of identifying and recommending to Government in a selection process carried out by the Public Appointments Service where it first identifies and agrees with the Minister various criteria, which are listed in the Bill. The Public Appointments Service goes through the process and can add criteria in agreement with the Minister. It subsequently goes through a process of selection and identification of the members which are ultimately recommended to the Government. The appointment of the chair is a different process from the one that is undertaken for the ordinary members. The question I would like to ask the Minister at this stage is what is her rationale for the difference in approach between the appointment of the chair and the ordinary members.It is important that we hear what her rationale is, particularly in the light of the critical issue of the independence of the board of the policing authority.

Has the Minister given any consideration to some aspects of the model implemented under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act? She brought the legislation through both Houses and the model is very rigorous. It has a couple more stages to what has been suggested for the policing authority, including a selection panel to be managed by the Public Appointments Service. It is not so much that element to which I want to draw attention but the fact that the process was the same for the chief commissioner and the ordinary members of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. What is the rationale for the difference in approach in this case, particularly in the light of my concern about the independence of the board? If there is a different approach, in the Minister's view will the policing authority be viewed as being absolutely independent of the Government and be seen to be so?