I beg to move the Second Reading of this Bill. It will be recollected that when the Gárda Síochána (Temporary Provisions) Bill was before the Dáil last July it was objected that the heavy legislative programme did not permit of sufficient time being given for that detailed consideration of the provisions of the Bill which some of the Deputies regarded as desirable. To meet those objections it was agreed to insert a clause limiting the operation of that measure to a period of one year, or until other provisions should be made by law for the regulation of the Force.
Prior to the passing of the temporary Act the Government had organised the Civic Guard to police the Saorstát, exclusive of the Dublin Metropolitan Police District. The title of the Force was altered by that Act to the Gárda Síochána. The temporary Act established the Gárda Síochána. The present Bill proposes to make permanent provision for the maintenance and regulation of the Force. The provisions of the Bill are in the main identical with those of the temporary Act, with certain modifications necessary for a permanent Act. It proposes to empower the Executive Council to continue to raise, train, equip, pay and maintain the Gárda Síochána, and from time to time to determine, within certain specified limits, the strength of the Force.
Subject to general regulations to be made by the Minister for Home Affairs, it proposes to vest in a Commissioner the general direction and control of the Force, and it provides that the appointment of the Commissioner and other officers shall be made by the Executive Council with whom also shall rest the power of dismissing these officers, or reducing them to the rank of Sergeant or Guard.
As I emphasised when the temporary Bill was before the Dáil, this Force is not local, but is a National Police Force, and it is, therefore, essential that it should not exist outside the authority of the Executive Council, in which is vested all the delegated power and authority of the people. The provision that all the officers of the Force shall be appointed by the Executive Council will give a proper constitutional derivation to their authority and a proper direction to their allegiance. As a corollary, the powers of dismissal or removal from officer rank must also rest with the Executive Council, but it is important that it should be borne in mind that in exercising these powers the Executive Council will act through well-defined channels and will, as a matter of normal practice, act on the advice of the Commissioner to whom they have entrusted the general direction and control of the Force.
The proposed maximum numbers within which the Executive Council may fix, from time to time, the working strength of the Force, are set out in the First Schedule. The normal minimum strength required is estimated at about 5,300; the proposed statutory maximum is 6,300, leaving a margin of 1,000 to meet contingencies. The minimum estimate of 5,300 is based on a scheme of distribution which provides for the establishment of 837 stations and an allocation of one Sergeant and four Guards to a normal station. It is possible that additional stations may be required, and that it may be found necessary to increase the strength of some of the stations. It is proposed to vest in the Minister for Home Affairs the power to determine, from time to time, the distribution of the Force.
The declaration, in the form set forth in the Second Schedule, to be taken by all members of the Force is in similar terms to that prescribed in the temporary Act. It embodies a pledge to render good and true service and obedience to Saorstát Eireann and its Constitution and Government, and a declaration that the member concerned does not and will not belong to any political society or secret society. It would obviously be improper to allow members of a police force, whose functions it is to serve the people impartially, to become associated, while holding office, with partisan politics, and it is clearly impossible to allow them to join an organisation the commitments of which are not publicly known.
A section in the temporary Act providing for the retention of a reserve at the Depôt has been omitted from this Bill, as it is not considered necessary to constitute a separate statutory entity for this purpose. A portion of the general force will normally be located at the Depôt to meet calls that may be made for extra police from particular areas. Owing to the short time which was available for training a whole force, it was found necessary to send many men to the country after a shorter period of training at the Depôt than would be given in normal circumstances. Many of these men will be called back for a further period of training, and for some time to come the number of men at the Depôt will exceed the number (i.e., about 350) which will be required as a reserve when the training and distribution of the Force is completed. The reserve will, of course, include recruits in training to fill vacancies caused by retirements, dismissals, etc.
During the six months ended 30th April nearly 100 Sergeants and Guards resigned. The proportion of retirements of men of short service is very heavy in all police forces. The modern experience of the English forces is that about one-tenth of all recruits resign before completing a year's service. The remaining provisions of the Bill are practically identical with those in the temporary Act. A clause is added to provide for the continuance in force of orders and regulations made under that Act.
It occurs to me that I should avail of the occasion of moving the Second Reading of this Bill to give Deputies certain general information regarding the force. The strength on the 1st May, 1924, totalled 5,099. The proposed strength is 5,319. The statutory maximum in the present Bill would be 6,300. The strength on the 1st May was made up as follows:—One Commissioner, one Deputy-Commissioner, one Assistant-Commissioner, one Surgeon, 20 Chief Superintendents, 119 Superintendents and Inspectors, 929 Sergeants, 4,027 Guards. The present distribution of the Force is that there are altogether 4,332 allocated to stations through the country. At the Depôt at the moment there are 763 members of the Force. Certain other information has a bearing rather on Finance, comparisons of pay, etc., and would, I think, be more properly dealt with on the Civic Guard Estimate.