Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I refer to removing the barrier. As the Deputy has said, I and others believe the increase in numbers has happened for a number of different reasons, including communications and outreach. What was happening before clearly was not working, we were not seeing those numbers increase in the way we wanted and this requirement was preventing others from applying. The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland engaged across the board with An Garda Síochána, the Garda Inspectorate, the Policing Authority, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and communities and tried to get a picture of the Garda, its work and its structures. The Garda itself would have an idea of the composition of its membership but it also went out to other communities and asked them why the members of those communities were not applying. This included under-represented communities, and what came back from many of them was they did not have Irish and the fact that Irish was mandatory was preventing them from applying. Having it as a mandatory requirement did not discourage nor encourage Irish speakers from applying but it did discourage others from applying. In trying to create a diverse police force and in trying to ensure the Garda represents and is reflective of the communities it represents, this was seen as a barrier. It was as simple as some research from asking communities and gardaí speaking to people. That fed into what was highlighted in the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.

We need to rethink how we engage with Gaeltacht areas and Irish speakers and we need to learn lessons from this recruitment campaign. If possible, we need to try to understand why people have applied. We will not understand that until we go through the overall process but progress is being made and it is to be hoped we can continue to make that progress.