Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to take this opportunity to talk about the admission of trainees, which is dealt with under this section. Somebody close to me has recently gone through the process of applying to join the Garda. They have gone through the fitness test, the interviews and all that goes with that. It was quite a lengthy process. It started at the beginning of this year and that person is still awaiting their date for call-up. There is a particular process to go through and the individual concerned had no difficulty going through those processes. Each step that person went through was valid but they are left in limbo waiting for their date and there is a lot of uncertainty. Between each stage there is a considerable wait time. Is there any prospect of speeding that up?

While you are going through that process you do not know what your employment situation will be or when you will get your start date. It makes it difficult to apply for another job while you are doing that and waiting to see if you will be successful or unsuccessful. It is taking a long time to get from the beginning of the process to walking in the doors in Templemore. I know the Minister has done a lot of work to try to speed up the process and get people through a bit quicker but from my first-hand experience, I have seen how long it took to get from step A to step B and step C. It has taken the best part of a year and that person has still not started. They did not have to repeat their fitness test; they went through all stages without any difficulty, which is great. It seems to be taking quite a long time and that person is left hanging during that period and not sure whether they will get a start or not or whether they should pursue alternative careers. I have no doubt that we are losing some good people and that had they gotten a start a bit sooner they may not have applied for other jobs or gone down different career paths. The more streamlined and efficient we can make the process of getting through those stages, the better it will be.

When trainees start their training programme, the duration of it is something along the lines of 33 weeks. I want to acknowledge what the Minister secured in the budget for next year in the increase in the training allowance. That was hugely significant and that is an acknowledgement of the cost of going through that training process and the cost of living that people have to deal with. That increase in the training allowance is hugely welcome and went down really well. I have no doubt that will make a difference to people choosing to join. Once you get into the college you will be on that allowance for the best part of a year, you have to live during that period and you get back home at the weekends. To have a reasonable training allowance and money they can live on for that period is welcome. I am amazed it stayed so low for as long as it did but the fact that it has been increased is important.

On the numbers of recruits who go in and those who get through, there is a considerable drop-off rate and a considerable number who do not make it through. I take on board the comments that have been made on this. The fitness test is hugely important and it is in or around one in six applicants who do not make it through the fitness test. There is an opportunity to come back and do it a second time if you did not make it through the first time. From what I have heard back from somebody who has recently been through it, there were people turning up on the day for the fitness test who underestimated what would be expected of them. Perhaps a little bit of work should be done to let people know what is involved in the fitness test when they come for it. We should inform the new people coming in of what the failure rate is and of what is required of them because it seems to be the case that people are rocking up thinking it will be a walk in the park or very easy, when it is anything but easy. The fitness test needs to be robust because we need people coming through the training college who are fit, healthy and able to do the job because it is a physically demanding job. Perhaps work can be done to inform new or potential recruits about what is expected on that day and that preparation training is required. You need to get out and go for a run before you rock up to the fitness test as it is not something you would pass easily.

The following point is not completely related to the section. There seems to be a view that if you come out of Templemore, you will automatically be sent to Dublin for a period of time.There is concern in other areas of the country, particularly rural areas, that other parts of the country are not getting their fair share of new recruits. If the Minister has the information to hand on the number of trainees she expects to come out and roughly the numbers she expects to go where in the country, could she share it with us? There is an acceptance that there is a particular demand in our cities, particularly the capital, for obvious reasons but numbers have to come up at local level.

In Mayo, there is a concern that we will not be adequately resourced in terms of Garda numbers because the pressures and demands will be elsewhere and that there is not much hope of any of the new recruits being posted to other areas of the country. If this is not the case, that is good but that needs to be dealt with head on in terms of information. It came up at the last meeting of the joint policing committee in Mayo. Senior Garda management was asked whether gardaí from Mayo would be sent to Dublin if and when it was requested. The answer was "Yes" but that it would be done using overtime hours. This has concerned members locally. They are concerned about what happens during the busy Christmas period. In what is generally a very quiet and safe community in County Mayo, there are periods during the year where there is extra demand for Garda resources. Christmas is an obvious one along with new year and the summer when more tourists come to the area. Achill in County Mayo sees its population during the tourist period almost double but no additional Garda resources are made available to the area during that period. When there is talk at local level that new recruits will go straight to Dublin and nowhere else, that needs to be addressed head on. Where there is talk of resources being taken out of rural areas and sent to the larger cities and towns, that needs to be addressed head on because while we may not always need the same resources, it is fair to expect that we would get our fair share of resources and that rural areas would not be left in a situation where if something did happen, there would not be adequate gardaí available. There is concern in rural communities that resources are being sent to certain parts of the country because they are needed, but that it is to the detriment of smaller rural areas. This is particularly pertinent to the area of trainees and recruits in that we are not seeing them coming into rural areas to the level we would expect when there are still gaps in services.