Ms Anne Marie McMahon:

One of the straplines for our last recruitment campaign was “The Difference is You”. We wanted to speak to the new communities in that. To answer the Deputy’s question, we were not trying to teach them Irish, communicate with them through Irish or anything like that. We were trying to get them to join An Garda Síochána and to let them see and recognise that it was an attractive proposition as a career. Once any of the recruits were in Templemore, the Irish language training was a compulsory part of the BA in applied policing and one which they must pass. I have already outlined the two modules that specifically relate to the Irish language. They would have undergone that particular process in the same way as all other recruits. In addition to that, there were other online supports available to all recruits, not just those from new or diverse communities.

That is how I would answer your question.