The Government is expected to appoint the former editor of The Irish Times, Conor Brady, and the current director of consumer affairs, Carmel Foley, to the three-person Garda Ombudsman Commission to investigate complaints against the force.
The two will join Mr Justice Kevin Haugh on the independent body to replace the Garda Complaints Board.
The three are understood to have accepted an invitation by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to join the new body.
Mr Brady, who was editor of The Irish Times between 1986 and 2002, is the author of a history of the Garda Síochána, Guardians of the Peace. He was also editor of the Garda Review for two years in the 1970s.
He declined to comment when contacted by The Irish Times yesterday.
Ms Foley has been director of the Office of Consumer Affairs, the consumer watchdog body, since 1998. She is also a member of the board of the new Consumer Agency and a member of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. A career civil servant, Ms Foley worked as a diplomat before taking on her role as Director of Consumer Affairs.
The posts are full-time and the Department of Justice is in discussions with the Department of Finance about the remuneration package. It will be at the level of assistant secretary general in the Civil Service, which normally carries a salary of between €108,000 and €124,000.
Last week The Irish Times reported Mr Justice Haugh had accepted an invitation to chair the commission.
The appointments will require Cabinet approval and a Dáil motion, which is expected in the coming weeks.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission, which was announced in the wake of the first Morris tribunal report, will have much greater powers than the current Garda Complaints Board, which has been described as wholly ineffective. Under legislation passed in the Dáil before the summer, the new commission will have its own investigative staff, unlike the current complaints board, which was reliant on members of the force.
It has the power to conduct its own investigations, to arrest members of the force and seize documents from Garda stations. However, it will be required to seek permission from the Department of Justice for permission to examine documents deemed to relate to the security of the State.