I move the Second Reading of the Police Forces Amalgamation Bill, 1924. On the First Reading of this Bill I explained that its main purpose was to secure unity of control of the two police forces functioning in the Saorstát. It will be appreciated that two artificially divided areas of police jurisdiction, each with a separate headquarters police staff, necessitate a considerable amount of wasteful routine and it is difficult to achieve the co-ordination of services which is essential to efficiency. In framing the Bill, care was taken to effect the amalgamation of the two existing forces rather than have the abolition of either. Every member of both forces, when amalgamation takes effect, will become a member of the amalgamated force which will be called the Gárda Síochána.
At present, the senior headquarters officers of the D.M.P. consist of a Commissioner and an Assistant Commissioner, and the senior officers of the Gárda Síochána include a Commissioner, a Deputy Commissioner, and two Assistant Commissioners. The senior officers in the amalgamated force will be one Commissioner, two Deputy Commissioners, and two Assistant Commissioners. The present Commissioner of the Gárda Síochána will become the Commissioner of the amalgamated force, the Commissioner of the D.M.P., and the Deputy Commissioner of the Gárda Síochána will become Deputy Commissioners of the amalgamated force, and the two Assistant Commissioners of the Gárda Síochána will become Assistant Commissioners of the amalgamated force. All others, members of the existing forces, will become, on the appointed day, members of corresponding rank in the amalgamated force.
Future appointments of officers will be made by the Executive Council. Existing members of the D.M.P., and the Gárda Síochána, will continue to be entitled to pay and allowances at the rates now respectively applying to those forces, and no member of the D.M.P. will become liable to serve, without his own consent, outside the Dublin Metropolitan area. The existing pension enactments applying to the D.M.P. will continue to apply to those members of that force who become members of the amalgamated force, and for the purpose of these enactments, the service of such members in the amalgamated force will be deemed to be service in the D.M.P. Future pay and allowance orders for the amalgamated force may be made by the Minister for Justice, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, and copies of such orders must be laid before the Oireachtas.
Future pension orders may similarly be made, but will require to be approved by resolution of each House. The present D.M.P. regulations as to promotion, discipline and such matters will continue to apply to the members of the amalgamated force stationed in the D.M.P. area, while the Gárda Síochána regulations on these subjects will apply to members stationed outside that area. The power to make future regulations on these matters is conferred on the Minister for Justice, subject to the approval of the Executive Council. With the exception of Section 16, the remaining provisions are merely minor consequential adaptations of existing enactments. Section 16 deals with the future of the Dublin police rate, and proposes that this rate shall abate by one penny yearly from the end of the financial year following the commencement of the operation of the Act, and expiring at the end of the eighth year.
There were certain erroneous statements made recently which I would like to correct. The statements were made in the Press relative to retirements from the D.M.P. It was stated that about 100 of the old force—meaning the force as it was transferred to the Irish Government—now remained. The facts are that out of 1,124 members of the force serving at the date of transfer, over 400 are still serving; 558 retired in consequence of the change of Government. That was the reason given for their retirement. Over 100 went in the ordinary way on retirement, or died, or were discharged.
About 40 have been refused retirement with compensation for various reasons, and their cases will be affected by proceedings at present before the High Courts. It was stated in the Press that owing to the numerous retirements, promotion was now so rapid that a man could become a station sergeant after eighteen months. Excluding the Detective Branch, none of the existing sergeants has less than sixteen years' service, and no sergeant has less than four years' service. I thought it as well to correct the statements which have appeared recently.
The exact figures as to retirement under Article 10 of the Treaty are, 11 Inspectors, 25 Station Sergeants, 95 Sergeants, and 427 Constables, giving a total of 558. There are forty cases pending that will be affected by the decision of the case at present before the Court. I mentioned to-day that one reason for my desire to obtain the Second Reading of this Bill before the Recess was that I would take certain action, administratively, if the principle of this Bill is approved by the Dáil which I would not otherwise take. Deputies are aware, from personal knowledge of their constituencies and from the daily Press, of the need for greater security of person and property in certain areas of the country. The particular relevancy of this Bill to that question is, that under the Bill the Detective Branch of the Metropolitan Police, with an increased membership, will be enabled to function through the country. Strictly and legally, they could so function at the moment, but unless I had a reasonable certainty of this Bill becoming law I would not attempt to use that force in areas in which the Gárda Síochána at present serve. There are human difficulties in the way of that. It would be, in general, undesirable that the members of one force would be actively operating in an area in which members of another force are serving. If I felt that within a few months the two forces would be likely to be fused and amalgamated that particular difficulty would tend to disappear. It is probably generally recognised that the unarmed and uniform force which operates in the country requires some stiffening and falling back, vide, the performance of a criminal who resorts to arms in his crime. It will also be recognised that it is not a proper state of affairs that the only stiffening and falling back should be the Army. It is, I submit, bad for the Army and bad for the people that the Army should be called on to intervene frequently in what is substantially a peace situation, and it is wrong that the military machine would be called upon to move every time some thug holds up a bank or post office, or perpetrates some robbery with arms in a rural area. The change of enabling the Detective Branch of the Metropolitan Police, or rather what has been the Detective Branch of the Metropolitan Police, to operate in the country in cases of the more serious forms of crime will tend to diminish the occasions on which the military would be called on to intervene in the ordinary life of the country.
I would like to assure Deputies that there is a very full appreciation of the fact that when you put arms into the possession of men who do not wear uniform, and when you put arms into the hands of men who have no particular badge or insignia to distinguish them from ordinary civilians, you take on a responsibility with regard to the personnel of such branch or organisation which is greater even than that which you must accept with regard to your uniformed forces. I undertake that, in the case of this detective branch, there will be the closest scrutiny of the character of the men who are recruited. I recognise fully the necessity for that, but I recognise also, and I ask the Deputies to recognise, that one cannot expect the Gárda Síochána to continue facing, with their bare hands, so to speak, the armed criminal, the man who uses arms in the performance of his crime. I hope that the supplementing of the unarmed force with plain clothes detectives, who will carry and use arms when necessary, will have good reactions on the general peace of the country and on the security of person and property to which citizens are entitled, citizens of rural areas being as much entitled to it as citizens of any other area. Deputy Gorey will appreciate a remark of that kind. If the Dáil, in reasonable proportion, or by a reasonable majority, approves of the principle of this Bill, I will not wait for its final passing before I commence to take administrative action tending towards a complete fusion of the forces. I want to draw attention to the fact that for the ordinary member of the Metropolitan Police the change will be very slight. His duties will remain the same and the scope of his duties will remain the same. It is simply a fusion at the top, a fusion at headquarters. To every existing member of the Metropolitan Police there is guaranteed by the Bill, security of tenure in the metropolitan area. He will not be asked to serve outside that area without his own consent. Recruiting in future will be to a single and amalgamated force, and those who recruit in future may be sent to any part of the area in which the force serves. I do not know that I have anything particular to add, but I will be glad to endeavour to meet any point that may be raised.