Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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321. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the promotion opportunities in An Garda Síochána will be extended or open to officers in the PSNI in 2019 to interview in the context of the recent Budget 2019 statement in which it was indicated that promotions will be provided for an additional 110 sergeants and 81 inspectors in 2019 in An Garda Síochána; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43509/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased that the recent Budget provides resources to increase the number of sergeants in An Garda Síochána by 110 and the number of Inspectors by 81.  As the number of members of An Garda Síochána continue to increase towards the target of 15,000 by 2021, it is critical that sufficient numbers of supervisors are in place.

At the moment, promotions to the ranks of Sergeant and Inspector are governed by the Garda Síochána (Promotion) Regulations 2006 (as amended).  These Regulations restrict the pool of applicants to serving members of An Garda Síochána at the ranks of Garda and Sergeant respectively. 

It is to be noted that appointment to the ranks of Superintendent, Chief Superintendent, and Assistant Commissioner is open to both members of An Garda Síochána and members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.  Appointments to these ranks are made by the Policing Authority on foot of competitions run by the Authority.  Appointment to the equivalent ranks in the PSNI is open to members of An Garda Síochána.

Insofar as the filling of current and future vacancies at the ranks of Sergeant and Inspector in An Garda Síochána is concerned, I am advised by the Commissioner that a competition recently concluded for promotion to the rank of Sergeant and a competition for promotion to the rank of Inspector is expected to conclude next month. The panels formed from these competitions will be drawn upon as needed by the Commissioner until they are exhausted. 

As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Síochána Inspectorate’s Review of Entry-Routes into An Garda Síochána, which was published in July 2018, proposes extending the existing reciprocal arrangements with the PSNI to allow access to the Sergeant and Inspector promotion processes in both jurisdictions (An Garda Síochána and the PSNI). The recently published Report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland endorses this recommendation and the related recommendation that reciprocal arrangements with other police services should also be explored.

I will be returning to Government in December with a High Level Plan to implement the recommendations in the Commission report.  As part of that, I will be addressing how the recommendations in relation to entry to An Garda Síochána are to be progressed.