Paul Murphy warns policing bill will 'cordon off' 3,000 civilian staff
Paul Murphy raised concerns that the government's new policing bill would effectively "cordon off" more than 3,000 civilian staff working with the Gardaí and asked for a commitment not to proceed without their consent. He said the change would shift employer status to An Gardaí, restrict transfers and applications to open competitions and could significantly affect terms and conditions, and noted the union says there has been no engagement.
Main concern
Paul Murphy outlined that there are currently over 3,000 civilian staff who work with the Gardaí but are 100% civil servants allocated under the Department of Justice. He said the bill would make their employer An Gardaí, prevent them from transferring out, bar them from applying for open competitions and likely have a significant impact on their terms and conditions.
Union engagement
He said the union representing these workers has raised that there has been no engagement on the matter and asked explicitly for a commitment not to proceed with the bill as currently written without the consent and agreement of the affected workers. The question stressed potential harm to staff employment conditions if changes go ahead without agreement.
Government reply
The respondent, identified in the transcript as Debbie Murphy, said that in any state initiative terms and conditions of public service employees are protected, citing past protections in other state initiatives. She also said that broader policing reform and the policing commission recommendation must proceed, and suggested the issues could be resolved through normal channels and mechanisms.
Implications and follow-up
The exchange focuses on the immediate employment implications for civilian staff, the absence of union engagement to date, and a request for assurance on proceeding only with workers' consent. It leaves unresolved how and when the protections or negotiations would be implemented alongside the wider policing reform process.
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Sorry, Debbie Murphy, you are all right, indistinguishable. Thanks, Giaan Córle. Teachta, there are currently over 3,000 civilian staff who work with the Gardaí. These are people who applied for civil servant roles and then got allocated under the Department of Justice to work in the Gardaí. At the moment, they can transfer out of there into another civil servant role. They are 100% civil servants, just like anyone else. who is a civil servant. However, under the government's new policing bill, that would have a very dramatic impact on their employment conditions. It would effectively cordon them off, effectively making their employer An Gardaí. It would mean that they could no longer transfer out of An Gardaí. They couldn't apply for open competitions and it likely would have significant impact on their terms and conditions later down the line. Their union are saying that there hasn't been engagement on this matter. Will you commit that you will not proceed with the bill as currently written without the consent and the agreement of these workers who will be very badly affected? Debbie Murphy, again, in any state initiative or government initiative, we always protect the terms and conditions of employees within the public service. That has happened with Irish Water and so on. So, but the broader issue of the bill relates to policing reform and the policing commission recommendation. So that has to proceed. But I think parallel with that, the issues can be, in my view, through the normal channels and mechanisms be resolved. With the
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