Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome here this afternoon. From the discussions today and from the discussions with the representative associations a couple of weeks ago, it is clear that there are problems within An Garda Síochána as regards recruitment and retention. That can be taken as a given. The members of this committee deserve credit for arranging, through the secretariat, these discussions today and, indeed, two weeks ago. In her presentation, the Minister mentioned that 240 gardaí have attested this year. That is 240 gardaí who are fully trained and who have all the powers that other gardaí have. That figure is worrying when one considers that an average of 500 are going out the exit door between natural retirements and premature resignations.

That is a concern for me and I am wondering what the pipeline is like for gardaí that will be attested in 2024 and the following year.

To follow on from Deputy Daly's comments, one of the things that I have learned from the row that erupted relating to rosters, is that it would be very beneficial for the Minister of the day - not just the current Minister - to have quarterly or twice-yearly meetings with the Garda representative associations so that we can keep on top of the issues and do not end up in a situation where we have a recruitment and retention issue. This has not all happened during the current Minister's tenure and I am not suggesting that for one moment but we need a more hands-on approach from the Minister of the day to address these issues before we end up in what everybody would now accept is a crisis situation with regard to recruitment and retention in An Garda Síochána. That covers a broad range of issues, including pensions, terms of employment, assaults and so on. It seems that some people have been asleep at the wheel and this has been allowed to fester. We are now in a situation where everyone is throwing around the word "crisi"s. If there were regular meetings with the representative associations, these issues could be flagged in time and perhaps, in some cases, addressed. Perhaps not all of the issues could be addressed but a forum like that would be very welcome and I would certainly support it.