asked the Minister for Justice when he expects to lay before the House the report of the Commission set up by him to enquire into and report on the conditions of employment and remuneration of members of the Garda Síochána.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Garda Síochána Commission.
126.
The commission completed the taking of evidence on 2nd October and they expect to submit their report in about three months time.
Will this report be available to the House before Christmas? This is the second occasion in four months that I have asked when the report is likely to be completed. There is concern even among members of the force that the report should be presented as soon as possible. Will we have the report before Christmas?
I cannot say. I have stated that we understand from the commission that we will have this report in about three months time. I hope to have it but I am depending, of course, on the commission, which is doing a very comprehensive job.
I certainly appreciate the complexities of the job they are doing and the delays involved in assesing the evidence sought, and so on, nevertheless, one must bear in mind that the police force in Northern Ireland can be overhauled overnight virtually, as a result of the reports of commissions, and so on. Surely we must now face the situation that we must tell the members of our force that they have to wait until the end of next January and then by the time the Government consider the matter it will be well into March or April before anything is likely to eventuate in terms of the implementation of the report. The matter is not being treated with due concern.
For the record, I must reject the suggestion that there is any call here for the reorganisation of our force on the same basis as the demands for reorganisation of certain forces in Northern Ireland.
There was no such suggestion.
Nor is there an analogy.
There is no analogy drawn. It is a question of expedition.
The Deputy mentioned the Northern Ireland position. The position here is that this commission have been given the job to go into every aspect of conditions, pay and so on, of the garda force and the commission, as I said before, have got every facility from me and from my Department to help them in their work and any delay in bringing in the report cannot be attributed to us.