38. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if he intends to introduce any new legislation in relation to the dismissal of serving members of An Garda Síochána who have criminal convictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49341/26]

The vast majority of Gardaí serve with integrity and work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.

All matters relating to the internal discipline of the Garda organisation, and whether disciplinary action up to and including dismissal should be taken against Gardaí, are solely the responsibility of the Commissioner. As Minister, I play no role in these independent functions.

There are robust procedures in place to allow the Garda Commissioner to deal with misconduct and other such matters and the Commissioner is committed to ensuring that the highest levels of integrity are maintained by Gardaí. The Conduct Regulations provide a mechanism to determine breaches of conduct/standards of professional behaviour. The regulations provide a number of disciplinary sanctions; dismissal is one of the sanctions available for gross misconduct.

Section 51 of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 introduces an express statutory power for the Garda Commissioner to dismiss a member of An Garda Síochána where the Commissioner is satisfied that dismissal is necessary in the public interest.

This provision strengthens the Commissioner’s position by placing the power of public interest dismissal on a clear legislative footing, separate from and additional to the conduct process under the Conduct Regulations. Of course, this provision is subject to statutory procedures and safeguards.

I commenced the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act in April last year and all legislation is kept under continual review. However, there are no plans at the moment to change either section 51 of the Act, which deals with dismissal, or Section 50, which deals with appointment and suspensions of people below the rank of Chief Superintendent. Similarly, there are no plans to amend the Conduct regulations given they were only recently introduced.