Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has said he does not believe plans to implement a widespread civilianisation programme across An Garda Síochána will create a two-tier police force of sworn officers and civilians.
He said gardaí would still be responsible for the running of much of their own force despite the publication of two expert reports which recommended posts as high as deputy commissioner be filled by civilians.
"A balance has to be kept and you can't have a situation where gardaí are dominated by a civilian administration and don't take part in their own affairs," Mr McDowell said. "So a balance has to be struck. We have a 10 to one ratio of gardaí to civilians in the policing function in Ireland, whereas in the UK they have about a 60-40 or 70-30, depending on the constabulary."
He was speaking following the publication of reports on Tuesday on Garda management and structural changes. The reports were published by the Garda inspectorate and an advisory group chaired by Senator Maurice Hayes.
As well as greater civilianisation, the reports also warned too much emphasis had been placed on specialist units at the expense of uniform policing. They said this should be reversed.
Mr McDowell said he was concerned that young gardaí believed they needed a period in a specialist unit in order to win promotion. However, he believed the appointment of some civilians to interview boards would result in more merit-based promotions.
The Irish Council of Civil Liberties (ICCL) welcomed the recommendations. Director Mark Kelly said many of the proposed changes would help address what he believes are "systemic management failures" identified by the Morris tribunal reports.
However, he said structural change would be needed to enable those who fill the mooted new positions to manage effectively. "Managers, whether civilian or Garda, must be able to hold their staff to account and, at present, the Garda does not have the structures in place to enable this to happen in an effective way."
"There is no need for the Garda Commissioner or [ Mr McDowell] to wait for further direction from external advisory bodies before putting in place the management procedures that will be required to render the Garda a fully human rights compliant police service," he added.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said while it broadly welcomed the measures proposed in the two reports, many had been mooted in the past but the Government had failed to act on them.
A spokesman said the association had long campaigned for the creation of a new Garda authority. The new reports made no mention of such an agency.
