Mr. Ronan Slevin:

The Senator spoke about resignations. Another issue will affect the number of gardaí on the street. Next year will mark the anniversary of accelerated recruitment to Templemore, so more members will become eligible for retirement. Every year, the number of resignations and retirements is approximately 500. We must bear in mind that, in 2022, only 300 recruits passed through Templemore. This year, we will be lucky if we get 625. Given the 500 gardaí who left the force last year and the 500 who will leave it this year, we will be in the negative. This is a crisis and it must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

While it is difficult to encourage people into the job when there is such bad publicity from ourselves in respect of the issues, those issues have to be fixed. If we can get a positive message to come from the associations about what the job is like, that will encourage more people into it. The list of issues that we have been discussing with Garda management in recent years has to be addressed urgently. The Senator was correct to say that the word “morale” was being bandied about but of the 40 people who left the job whom we interviewed, every one bar none said that morale was one of the main reasons for leaving. It needs to be addressed urgently so that we do not dip below current numbers.

With an ever-increasing population, the fewer than 14,000 gardaí are struggling more every day. The Senator rightly said that gardaí were not seen on the beat any more. Members are being brought in from outside stations just to supplement units in larger urban areas. You cannot get away from the fact that we are only able to police now because of overtime. I believe a figure of 20% has been given for how much is being spent on members supplementing units to ensure a standard of policing that just about delivers a service to the public. This is unsustainable. It is even unsustainable for our members to do that amount of overtime. This has to be addressed.

Regarding the Senator’s other question, there is a perceived disconnect between members on the ground and Garda management as regards having the former’s issues addressed. We are a solutions-based association and we always strive to find solutions to the issues we face but if they are never addressed, the effect on the ground is that members feel as though they are not being listened to and their concerns are not being taken on board. It does not bode well for the message going out to the public that this is not a job we would encourage anyone to join.