No clarity expected on Noirín successor

The head of the Policing Authority is expected to stonewall any questions around the appointment of a new Garda Commissioner when she appears before an Oireachtas Committee today.

Policing Authority chair Josephine Feehily is to be quizzed by politicians at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality.

The Policing Authority is now working to appoint a new Garda Commissioner after the resignation of Noirín O’Sullivan.

However, it may be some months before a successor is appointed as the Policing Authority is currently working with the Department of Justice and the Public Appointments Service to set out the criteria and job specification of the post.

Although some of the members of the Committee will want to query the appointment of a new Garda commissioner, Ms Feehily will warn them that she needs to be careful not to say anything which might even, by inference, appear to relate to an individual or to prejudice any future selection processes.

However, Ms Feehily is expected to outline the responsibilities the Policing Authority has in relation to appointments in the Garda Síochána.

When it comes to the appointment of a new commissioner or deputy commissioner, the authority must agree the requirements for the jobs with the Minister of Justice and ask the Public Appointments service to run a selection competition and to nominate one name from that competition to Government for each position.

Ms Feehily is also expected to outline the various measures around oversight to bring about change in the force which has been plagued by controversies and scandal in recent times.

However, she will say that oversight is not an end in itself and it is not a game of ‘Gotcha’. And she will tell the committee that policing performance must be enhanced to ensure that communities are safe, that the country is secure and that the Irish people receive the best possible service from the Garda Síochána.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has refused to say if it will release the reasoning for why Stepaside Garda Station was reopened earlier this year after the acting Garda Commissioner side-stepped responsibility for the issue.

Last Thursday, the cross-party Dáil public accounts committee warned it “smells a rat” over the decision to re-open the facility, which is in Transport Minister Shane Ross’s south Dublin constituency.

In a letter to the PAC, acting Garda Commissioner Donal Ó Cualain said that while he has access to a methodology report, he cannot release it without the permission of the Department of Justice — contradicting his previous claims.

A department spokesperson yesterday failed to respond or to say if the report will be released.

The Stepaside Garda Station reopening has been embroiled in controversy since early summer due to the perceived connection of Mr Ross’s key role in Cabinet and the location of the facility in his constituency.

The Government, the Department of Justice, and Mr Ross all previously rejected any claims of interference in the reopening process.