Garda double-jobbing is likely to be discussed when the Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, appears before the Oireachtas Justice Committee tomorrow.
The Commissioner is expected to talk about the 2001 Garda report, crime statistics, under-age drinking and closed-circuit television systems with the committee.
However, its chairman, Mr Sean Ardagh, a Dublin Fianna Fáil TD, confirmed yesterday that the issue of so-called "garda nixers" is also likely to be considered in the wake of concern expressed by TDs during a Dáil debate last week on the Private Security Services Bill.
The Bill brings in compulsory licensing for everybody who works in the security services industry, and the creation of an authority to regulate and control that licensing. There are now more private security personnel in the State than gardaí, and a number of deputies, including the Cork Green TD, Mr Dan Boyle, said that members of the "State's security forces, moonlighting or working in their spare time, should not be employed in this industry".
He said the boundaries between "official capacity and the commercial sector can be blurred".
There was some confusion over whether gardaí were permitted to work in the security industry in their spare time. The Minister of State for Justice, Mr Willie O'Dea, said "such off-duty activity is already prohibited amongst the Garda, believe it or not".
He explained that the Garda discipline regulations defined prohibited spare-time activity as including "any activity prohibited by the Garda Commissioner as inappropriate for members to engage in".
This would include acting as directors or secretaries of security firms or being engaged in any security work as a spare-time activity.
