Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 15 Nov 2016

Vol. 929 No. 1

Topical Issue Debate

Medicinal Products

Deputy Gino Kenny

I thank the Minister of State for taking the question. The Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, recently met the parents of Ava Barry and called for a review of cannabis-based medicines. Sativex is a cannabis-based product which was approved in 2014 but is still not available to multiple sclerosis sufferers. I understand the Minister's hands are tied, up to a point, by the existing law. The Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016 will deal with the long-term effects of the grey area of cannabis-based products. In the short term, I will try to untie the Minister's hands by asking him to facilitate compassionate access under the exempt medicinal products statutory instruments and any other means at his disposal, particularly in the cases of Ava Barry and Ronan Gaynor.

Ava is a beautiful six year old child who has Dravet syndrome, which involves intractable epilepsy, often with dozens of seizures a day. The condition is known to respond well to cannabis-based products. Ronan Gaynor is a four year old boy with a very rare form of brain tumour called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. It is a very rare and aggressive form of childhood cancer, involving severe pain and distress. It responds to cannabis-based products. If a recognised doctor writes to the Minister on behalf of Ava and Ronan to apply for permission to prescribe cannabis-based medicines, will the Minister consider the doctor's application and ensure these children gain access to the cannabis-based medicines which they medically need?

I note the report by Professor Michael Barnes.

It was the unanimous view that medical cannabis has huge medical benefits for a range of illnesses. We need to step into the 21st century in this country. Children like Ava and Ronan are at an extremely difficult point in their short lives, as are their parents. These products can help. The research and data are available and we need to import these products under the guidance of a doctor to help these children. I plead with the Minister of State because I am the voice of those children and their parents in the House today. Will he help these children?

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Finian McGrath)

I thank the Deputy for rasing this important issue, about which he cares passionately. I share his concerns and his ideas.

I very much appreciate the difficult situation that Ava and her family are in and how painful it is for any parent to see his or her child suffering with a condition such as this. Many patients with a variety of medical conditions believe that cannabis should be a treatment option. However, with the exception of Sativex, cannabis-based preparations are not currently authorised as medicines in Ireland. Cannabis has not gone through the normal regulatory procedures for medicines, which are designed to protect patients and ensure that treatments are supported by good evidence of their effectiveness. However, the Minister for Health is committed to urgently reviewing policy on medicinal cannabis and I support that position. He met the parents of Ava Barry last week and updated them on his stance.

The Minister has requested the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, to provide him with expert advice on the issue of medicinal cannabis. The HPRA's statutory role is to protect and enhance human health by regulating medicines and other health products. It has the necessary clinical and scientific expertise to provide advice on this issue. The Minister has asked for a report on recent developments in the use of medicinal cannabis in other countries, including an overview of emerging research. The HPRA may also propose changes to legislation in respect of the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Separately, the Minister understands that the Joint Committee on Health will also begin to examine the issue of medicinal cannabis later this month. He hopes to receive the report from the HPRA and the output from the committee early in the new year. He will then be in a position to consider and progress any legislative changes that may be recommended.

In the meantime, it must be emphasised that treatment options are a matter to be discussed between patients, their carers and their doctors in the first instance. Cannabis-based preparations intended for treatment of certain types of epilepsy are currently undergoing clinical trials. It may be possible for patients to access these products on an individual basis, but this is something for discussion with their doctors. This is one of the options we should examine. Cannabis-based preparations are strictly controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Acts. However, it is open to the Minister to consider an application from an Irish registered doctor for a licence for such products for a named patient. The appropriateness of any particular treatment is a matter between the patient and their doctor and the Minister has no role, and it would be entirely inappropriate for him to involve himself in this process. My understanding is that many doctors would be quite cautious about recommending a cannabis-based treatment for a patient in the absence of robust clinical evidence that underpins authorised medicines. However, it is open to any doctor to make an application.

Deputy Gino Kenny

I understand that next week a doctor will visit Ronan in Galway and Ava in west Cork and will correspond with the Minister early next week recommending cannabis-based products for them. These children cannot wait and they need these products as soon as possible. Hopefully, the Minister will see common sense and that these children need these products as soon as possible. Under licence, the doctor will prescribe that medication to them with the guidance of their parents and, hopefully, it will have medical benefits for them. I welcome the Minister of State's reply. He is saying it is ultimately up to the Minister to grant the licence for these children. That application will happen over the next week and, hopefully, the Minister will look favourably on it.

Deputy Finian McGrath

It is important to acknowledge that most of us want to do our best for patients in these cases and that we need to do something to assist them. That is my priority as well. Medicinal cannabis is available in countries such as the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Canada, Australia, Malta and Croatia and the medical profession is aware of this. The key response to the matter raised by the Deputy is that it is possible for the Minister to consider granting a licence to an Irish-registered doctor for a named patient. No applications have been received from doctors in Ireland and it is understood from contacts with families that doctors are reluctant to get involved. However, the Deputy has raised these cases and it is open to the Minister to consider granting a licence and that is the road we should go down.

It is not up to us, as politicians, to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship but there is a great deal of sympathy for the Deputy on this issue. He published a Private Members' Bill in late July, which provides for the establishment of the medicinal cannabis regulatory authority. The Bill is being considered by departmental officials. Some amendments may have to be made but the initial view is that we are seriously considering the legislation. The door is open for some sort of movement on the cases raised by the Deputy and I wish him well.

Speech and Language Therapy Provision

Deputy Fergus O'Dowd

I am grateful to the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this debate. I welcome the Minister of State. His commitment to his duties is top class. I have come across him many times on active service in County Louth-----

Deputy Finian McGrath

That could be dangerous.

Deputy Fergus O'Dowd

-----meeting people who have concerns. There is nothing more important than him examining the issue of speech and language deficits in the county on his next visit, which will not be too far in the future.

The younger person who needs speech and language therapy obtains access to the service, the more influential it will be on their lives. The huge waiting list in County Louth in unacceptable. A total of 284 people are on the list and they have been assessed as needing this provision. They have been waiting less than a year but the number of the waiting list post-assessment in the adjoining county, Meath, some of which is in my constituency, is 27. There is a significant difference in the service provision in counties Louth and Meath. This is shocking, discriminatory and entirely unacceptable. I do not blame the Minister but rather the HSE, which does not examine these issues in the detail it ought to. For example, nine new speech therapists have been appointed to both counties, six of whom will be deployed in County Meath, which has the shortest waiting list. This is shocking and disgraceful and I ask the Minister of State to intervene and to act urgently on this matter.

I wish to draw attention to another waiting list.

The number of adults deemed to have intellectual disabilities who are on the waiting list for speech and language therapy in County Louth is 400. They have no service. They have no dedicated speech therapist. That is compared with County Meath where there are five people with intellectual disability aged over 18 awaiting speech and language therapy. I am not pitting one county against another but whether one lives in Mornington in County Meath outside Drogheda or Monasterboice on the other side of Drogheda, one should not have to wait on a geographical basis. A person should get the service because he or she needs it. The people in Louth need it now. I urge the Minister of State to address that huge, unacceptable deficit. I understand from speaking to Inclusion Ireland that it is a huge issue nationally. We need to increase very significantly the number of speech and language therapists nationally. I await the Minister of State's reply on the matter.

Deputy Finian McGrath

I thank Deputy Fergus O'Dowd for raising this very important issue. In the Louth area, Deputy O'Dowd is very committed to supporting the rights of people with disabilities, particularly intellectual disabilities, and also pushing for speech and language therapy services.

The Government recognises, as Deputy O'Dowd has said, that waiting times for speech and language therapy have posed significant difficulties for families and their children. However, I can advise the Deputy there has been a reduction of almost 8% in the overall numbers waiting for speech and language therapy services over the period December 2015 to September 2016. Furthermore, there has been a reduction of over 18% in the numbers waiting for more than eight months for speech and language therapy services over the period November 2015 to September 2016. The enhancement of therapy services for children and adults has been the subject of particular focus in recent years and has benefited from the investment of significant additional resources. In 2013, additional funding of €20 million was provided to strengthen primary care services and to support the recruitment of prioritised front-line posts. As part of this initiative, the HSE recruited for more than 260 additional posts for primary care teams. This included 52 speech and language therapist appointments. Since 2014, the roll-out of the programme for progressing disability services for children and young people up to 18 years entailed targeted investment of €14 million and the provision of 275 additional therapy staff including 88.5 speech and language therapists. I am advised that in 2015 four speech and language therapy posts were allocated to Louth under this programme.

There are currently 21 directly employed whole-time equivalent speech and language therapy posts in Louth covering primary care and social care. Nationally, the primary care and social care division also indirectly supports a number of voluntary agencies which employ additional speech and language therapists to deal with the lists. The combined staff see and provide services to approximately 21,000 patients per month. In addition, in 2016 development funding of €4 million was provided to focus specifically on speech and language therapy waiting lists in primary care and social care for children up to 18 years old. This funding represents a long-term increase in speech and language capacity. This investment is enabling the HSE to fill 83 new recurring posts in primary care to address waiting lists, prioritising the longest waiting children. I am advised that three posts have been allocated to Louth under this initiative. Each additional whole-time equivalent will provide capacity, on average, to undertake 800 initial assessments or 1,400 therapy appointments per annum. When the 83 positions are filled, the number of speech and language therapy staff in the HSE’s primary care and social care services will be close to 700. The HSE aims to ensure the resources available are used to best effect to provide assessment and ongoing therapy to children and adults in line with their prioritised needs. Along with the significant investment in recent years, a range of new approaches have been developed and used in many speech and language therapy services. The HSE has established a national therapy service review group to address therapy waiting lists, including speech and language therapies. It is anticipated the group will have completed its work by the end of March 2017.

As Deputy O'Dowd says, it is not acceptable to have children like that on waiting lists for speech and language therapies. I will bring the Deputy's message directly back to the Minister and the HSE.

Deputy Fergus O'Dowd

I welcome the Minister's comments but it is unacceptable that almost 300 people are waiting for speech and language therapy in Louth whereas the adjoining county, Meath, has fewer than 30 people waiting after assessment. When the allocation of posts was taking place, six went to Meath and three to Louth. I agree there must be enough therapists for everybody but this discrimination against County Louth is absolutely unacceptable and unforgivable, particularly in light of the fact that 400 adults with intellectual disability have no service whatsoever. There is no waiting list and no therapist in County Louth, yet the adjoining county of Meath has a waiting list of five.

The other point I want to make is on the workload of speech and language therapists in County Louth. It is recommended in primary care for people aged under 18 that there should not be more than 100 people per whole-time equivalent therapist. In Louth the figure is 180 so the caseload is approaching double the maximum it should be. If one looks at the adult network figure, the recommendation is 38 to one but the actual figure is 93 to one. For disability services, the ratio is 50:1 in both the under-six and six to 18 age groups whereas it should not be greater than 38:1.

There is a huge challenge here. I rely on the Minister of State's interest to address this matter urgently. We cannot continue to deny fundamental rights to access to services for everybody but specifically in County Louth, which is being discriminated against. In that discrimination, the greatest discrimination is visited upon the 400 adults with disability who are on the waiting list in County Louth. They have no services and I hope it ends now.

Deputy Finian McGrath

I accept Deputy O'Dowd's point about Louth and Meath. We have to ensure there is equality in the distribution of services. It is a point I will go back to the Minister and HSE with. We have to deal with the challenges that exist when recruiting for new positions. In some cases, the successful candidates are HSE staff from elsewhere in the country, so enhancing capacity in one area means a vacancy arising elsewhere. Nonetheless, as indicated, in net terms overall capacity has already been substantially increased and will be added to further in the coming months. It is something I am in further talks about at the moment with regard to the HSE service plan. We have to respond to this.

In the meantime, it is important that while we are trying to address this crisis in our speech and language therapies, we look at a new range of approaches. To keep things on the road, new approaches have been developed and used in many speech and language therapy services. These include providing structures, training and support to parents and carers in order that they can work to help to improve the individual's speech and language. In addition, therapy is delivered in group settings, where appropriate.

The issue of speech and language therapy services has to be dealt with. I will bring back the Deputy's concerns, particularly those on Louth and Meath.

Mental Health Services Provision

An Ceann Comhairle

The third item is one in which Deputy Michael D'Arcy wishes to address the establishment of an acute admissions unit in County Wexford.

Deputy Michael D'Arcy

It should read acute psychiatric admissions unit in County Wexford. A number of years ago, all Members of the Oireachtas agreed to A Vision for Change. Wexford was the first county to do so. It was the first county to support the closure of what was then the old Victorian St. Senan's institution because we wanted to move away from the old way that people in psychiatric services were dealt with. We believed at that stage that it was the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do but a number of years later, there is an enormous deficit in the plan because there is no acute psychiatric admission service in County Wexford.

If there is a psychiatric admission, the patient goes to Wexford General Hospital. Subsequently, depending on where the patient is from in the county, he or she is transferred to Waterford or to Newcastle Hospital in County Wicklow. People in difficult circumstances or dire straits are moved from Wexford General Hospital to somewhere else. This is not good enough. There is a lacuna in the service and it must be addressed. I am keen to hear the views of the Minister of State and those of the Department. This cannot be allowed to continue.

Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (Deputy Seán Kyne)

I thank Deputy D'Arcy for putting down this Topical Issue. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy McEntee.

The current programme for Government continues to prioritise the development of our mental health services by fully implementing the policy of A Vision for Change. Since 2012, the mental health budget has increased from €711 million to €826 million. In 2017, an additional €24.7 million will be given to mental health services, thus bringing the HSE budget for this key care programme to €851 million. Broadly speaking, this represents an increase of €140 million, or 20%, over the period. It reflects real progress against a continuing overall background of limited resources and competing demands.

Waterford and Wexford mental health services cater for a population of approximately 278,000. The extended catchment and geographic area stretches from Gorey in north Wexford to Youghal in County Cork. Mental health services in Wexford are arranged in accordance with A Vision for Change. In addition to emergency hospital care and community-based services, the HSE has a comprehensive range of services available to people in Wexford in respect of mental health, suicide prevention and substance misuse.

Following a closure order in 2010 from the Mental Health Commission, the acute mental health unit in St. Senan's Hospital in Enniscorthy was amalgamated with Waterford mental health services. The service is now provided at a 44-bed acute inpatient unit in University Hospital Waterford. It is not planned by the HSE to use St. Senan's Hospital in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, for any future provision of mental health services. In addition, arrangements are in place whereby service users in north Wexford who attend Tara House mental health services in Gorey and who require acute inpatient admission have access to five beds in Newcastle Hospital in Greystones, County Wicklow. To support the amalgamation of acute mental health services, a comprehensive €18 million capital investment programme was implemented, with the main developments taking place in County Wexford. These include additional bed provision or enhancement of facilities such as those in Tara House, Gorey, Tús Nua, Heavenview and Miliview in Enniscorthy and the Farnogue psychiatry-of-old-age care and Summerhill community mental health units in County Wexford.

The suicide crisis assessment nurse, SCAN, service in Wexford is a skilled mental health nursing service for primary care. The service provides an accessible and quick response to GP requests for timely assessments of those in suicide and self-harm distress. The emergency department at Wexford General Hospital has a seven-day liaison nurse-led service. In addition, and in line with catchment area criteria recommended in A Vision for Change, a new purpose-built ten-bed crisis respite unit has been opened in Enniscorthy.

Many of the services I have outlined, as well as others in the area, operate a seven-day service with significant opening hours. I am satisfied that the significant and comprehensive service developments, which have taken place or are currently planned for the Waterford and Wexford mental health service area as a whole, will ensure that the provision of quality and patient-focused mental health care across the region continues. In light of this, the HSE has no plans at present to provide the type of service suggested by the Deputy.

Deputy Michael D'Arcy

I am not going to beat up the Minister of State on account of his response. I call on the Ceann Comhairle to provide for another response on this issue. The last line in the response read out to me is the only part of the response that relates to the question I asked. The Minister of State said, "In light of this, the HSE has no plans at present to provide the type of service suggested by the Deputy." That is simply not good enough.

An Ceann Comhairle

In accordance with the provisions of Standing Orders, if the Deputy wishes to make a formal written submission to me, I will take up the matter.

Deputy Michael D'Arcy

I will do that. I am altogether aggrieved. The reason I feel aggrieved is because at the time when A Vision for Change was launched, Oireachtas Members from County Wexford were prepared to take a leap of faith on the policy. What has happened instead is that our county, one of the largest in the country, now has no acute psychiatric admission unit.

I have no wish for St. Senan’s Hospital to reopen under any circumstances. What is being requested - and what has been requested for some time - is the establishment of a six-bed acute psychiatric admission unit somewhere in the county. Most likely, it would be attached to Wexford General Hospital. That is what I am looking for and that is what is required for such a large county. God knows, we have had too many occasions when too many terrible circumstances have arisen when people have taken their own lives. If there was a properly-funded acute admissions service, people's lives could be saved. That is what I am about and that was what I committed to at the last general election. I am surprised that there is nothing in the HSE plans to implement what I am suggesting, that is to say, a six-bed unit somewhere in the county.

Deputy Seán Kyne

I certainly understand the passion of Deputy D'Arcy in respect of this topic and the importance of mental health provision in County Wexford. Certainly, I will undertake to go back to the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, with the concerns raised by Deputy D'Arcy. I imagine she would be happy to sit down with him and whatever advocacy group that accompanies him to discuss the matter. I will do that. A six-bed acute admission facility is the request from Deputy D'Arcy. While there have been substantial increases in the budget, perhaps they have not been reflected in the additional resources requires in the case of Wexford, notwithstanding the extra provision which I have set out in the response from the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee. Certainly, I will go back to her with the concerns raised by Deputy D'Arcy. I imagine she will be happy to sit down with him to further tease out the issues to which he refers. Perhaps she will bring the relevant HSE officials to that meeting as well.

Garda Promotions

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan

The issue I wish to raise concerns the failure of the Government to fill vacancies at the rank of chief superintendent in An Garda Síochána. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, will be aware that on 23 December 2015 a competition was held for appointment to the rank of chief superintendent. An interview board was selected and the competition was conducted in accordance with Civil Service appointments guidelines.

On 25 May 2016, 18 people were notified by letter of their successful selection for appointment to the position of chief superintendent. The list of successful candidates was published in Garda headquarters on 26 May and 6 July last. Shortly afterwards, the Government accepted the legitimacy of that panel of 18. However, it only appointed ten of the successful persons on the panel as chief superintendents. Although the remaining eight were part of the panel established on foot of the competition, none has been appointed to date.

I support the fact that future promotions to the positions of superintendent and chief superintendent in An Garda Síochána will be the responsibility of the Policing Authority. The House provided for this under section 12 of the Policing Authority Act. I have called on the Government to expedite that measure. Nonetheless, that process is not in place at present. This does not mean, however, that the Government can walk away from its responsibility to appoint chief superintendents to vacant positions. There are vacancies for chief superintendent in Cork west, the special detective unit, the roads policy unit, the technical bureau, the crime policing administration unit, the central vetting unit, the operational support unit, the Dublin metropolitan regional office, the Garda Reserve and in internal affairs. All these units need chief superintendents.

Are we now going to have a situation such as that which exists in the Judiciary, whereby the Government is unprepared to fulfil its duty because it is waiting for a new regime to come into place? I understand that the policing authority and the Department have prepared recruitment and promotion guidelines which, we are told, will be introduced before the end of the year. However, it is unfair to the eight individuals who succeeded in the competition if the Government now puts it to them that they will not be promoted.

They went through a competition, they succeeded and a panel of 18 was established on foot of the competition. Each of them signed a declaration that any panel established on foot of the competition would cease on 31 December 2016 or on the commencement of section 12. However, the Government cannot seek now to subdivide the panel. It was a panel of 18 successful competitors. It exists as a panel or it falls as a panel. The eight who have been discarded have a legitimate expectation that they would be appointed. In short, they were part of the panel, and it is unfair on the eight successful candidates for the Government now to offer its apologies and state that it will only accept part of the panel. I am sure the eight individuals will apply again if it is the case that the Policing Authority will be given retrospective responsibility for these appointments. However, if that happens, it will be even more unfair on these eight individuals because unless they are promoted by the Policing Authority, it will be presented as though they were previously appointed but then rejected by the Policing Authority.

There are always issues in respect of transitional changes in statutory regimes. That is what we have here. Everyone welcomes the fact that the Policing Authority will take over responsibility in this regard, but these eight people should be treated fairly. The Government is not treating them fairly. They are entitled to expect that the State will honour the terms of the competition that previously existed and the integrity of the panel that was established last summer. Fairness requires that the eight successful applicants should be appointed. They succeeded under the system under which we all operate at present.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (Deputy David Stanton)

I am here on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, on whose behalf I thank the Deputy for raising this matter.

As the Deputy will be aware, section 12 of the Garda Síochána (Policing Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 provides for the transfer of the appointment of persons to the ranks of assistant Garda commissioner, chief superintendent and superintendent to the Policing Authority. The Minister is committed to the authority assuming its functions regarding senior appointments as soon as practicable, and work is ongoing in her Department on the preparation of the necessary regulations to facilitate this. At this stage, subject to the authority confirming that it is ready to undertake selection competitions so as to avoid any undue delay in the filling of vacancies, the Minister expects to make the necessary commencement order in December. In the interim, the appointment of persons to the senior ranks remains a matter for Government in accordance with section 13 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005.

Earlier this year, at the request of the Garda Commissioner, the Government made a number of appointments to the senior ranks to fill existing vacancies as follows: four appointments were made to the rank of assistant commissioner on 24 May; ten appointments to the rank of chief superintendent; and 18 to the rank of superintendent on 13 July. The appointments were made in accordance with the statutory framework as set out in the 2005 Act and related regulations. In particular, the appointees were drawn in order of merit from promotion panels formed on foot of competitions held by the Garda Commissioner in accordance with the Garda Síochána (Promotion) Regulations 2006.

The Policing Authority was consulted on the proposal to fill these vacancies and it supported the filling of these critical posts up to the limit of the agreed strength as approved by the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The appointment of the ten chief superintendents in July brought the number of chief superintendents to the agreed strength as set out in the employment control framework of An Garda Síochána as approved by my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The Minister was informed by the Garda Commissioner that in September this year a chief superintendent retired. This, together with the recent departure of an assistant commissioner to take up a post abroad, brings the number of vacancies in the senior ranks to three, including one at superintendent level.

As I have outlined, the intention is to transfer the appointment function to the authority very shortly. Once this is done, it will be a matter for the authority to undertake its own selection competitions for appointments to these ranks. The transfer of this function is a very important signal of reform and, taking account of the very recent origin of the current vacancies, I am sure the Deputy will understand that the Minister's clear preference is that the authority should have the opportunity as early as possible after taking on this function to exercise the function itself. This will give confidence to the new oversight arrangements in place and to the role of the Policing Authority in those arrangements.

Deputy Jim O'Callaghan

I thank the Minister of State for his reply, but he still has not dealt with the central issue I raised, namely, the unfairness to the eight individuals who succeeded in this competition but who are now told that the panel of which they were a part will not be accepted by the Government. Everyone in this House - or most people in this House - welcomes the fact that, in future, important decisions in An Garda Síochána as to who should be promoted will be made by the Policing Authority. That is a positive development. However, we need to consider where we are at present. We do not have that system in place. We do not have a system in place whereby the regulations are available to the Policing Authority, which in turn has the power to promote individuals within An Garda Síochána. Consequently, we are operating under the old regime. Everyone welcomes the transition that will take place. However, since we are still operating under the old regime, fairness dictates that the individuals who were on that panel and who had a legitimate expectation that it would be kept intact should be entitled to promotion to the position of chief superintendent.

I note that the Minister of State says it is the expectation of the Minister that all of this new regime will be in place shortly. We do not know that will be the case. On many occasions in this House we have been told that there is an expectation that something will be done shortly. We cannot allow the governance of this country to come to a standstill simply because we are waiting for a new statutory regime to be put in place. That is what has been done in respect of the appointment of judges. It now appears it is being done in respect of the promotion of individuals within An Garda Síochána to chief superintendent. The job of Government is to govern. Nobody can criticise the Government for the fact that there are vacancies within An Garda Síochána for positions of chief superintendent if it now proceeds to fill them.

I will conclude by saying once again that the eight individuals who succeeded in this competition and who are on the panel - and that panel has resulted in certain individuals being promoted - have a legitimate expectation and a right to expect fairness from this Government.

Deputy David Stanton

As I said, the Minister is committed to the authority assuming its functions regarding senior appointments as soon as practicable. Her Department is working as a matter of priority on the preparations required to give effect to this transfer before the end of the year. The commencement of section 12 is dependent on the regulations governing promotion in An Garda Síochána being amended to reflect the envisaged role of the authority. In accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Commissioner and the authority must be consulted on any proposed changes to these regulations. In addition, the Garda representative bodies are being consulted. Work on the preparation of the proposed changes to the regulations is well advanced in the Department and, as I said, the Minister expects that this necessary preparatory work will be completed this year. All going to plan, the function will transfer to the authority in December. I have taken note of other points the Deputy has raised, and we will bring them to the attention of the Minister.