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Civil Service

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 September 2021

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

Questions (578)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

578. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice the efforts she and her officials have made to engage and consult with the 4,000+ civil servant Garda staff who are fearing a change in their status as a result of the proposals contained in the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill; the steps that have been and will be taken to engage with the relevant staff; and the expected effect the proposed changes will have on Garda recruitment given that Garda numbers are so low per capita in counties such as County Meath. [46300/21]

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Written answers

As the Deputy will be aware, in April of this year the Government approved the drafting of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, a commitment in the Programme for Government and Justice Plan 2021. This general scheme was developed to deliver on the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (CoFPI) following publication of its fundamental in-depth review in 2018.

A central tenet of the CoFPI report is that An Garda Síochána should be a single organisation with a single workforce. To support this, CoFPI recommended that non-sworn members (i.e. Garda staff) should be recruited directly to An Garda Síochána, not to the general civil service, and should be treated as valued members of a single Garda workforce with a shared mission.

The general scheme gives effect to this recommendation by providing for the Garda Commissioner to recruit and appoint Garda staff in accordance with the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004. Under the provisions of the general scheme, the Minister may also designate by order that existing civil servants within An Garda Síochána will change status, but only after engagement with trade unions and staff associations.

It is important to emphasise that no changes to the status of existing Garda staff will take place solely as a result of the enactment of the proposed legislation. A Ministerial order will be required before any designation to change the civil servant status of existing Garda staff may be made. The Minister must engage with any trade union or staff association concerned and consider any representations made by them. The general scheme provides for further reassurances on the terms and conditions of existing Garda staff prior to any agreement being reached with relevant unions or associations. I should emphasise that this does not pose any risk to their current terms and conditions.

Officials from my Department have been in contact with the relevant representative associations to brief them on the legislation, and are available to consult further as required.

The proposed changes will have no effect whatsoever on recruitment of Garda members, or on the allocation of policing resources by the Garda Commissioner. In that regard, the Deputy will be aware that an unprecedented budget of €1.952 billion was allocated to An Garda Síochána in 2021 which is enabling an ongoing programme of recruitment of Garda members and staff, albeit the pace of this has been impacted over the last 18 months by the pandemic. Subject to Budget 2022, I hope that it will be possible for recruitment to reach normal levels next year.

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