Ms Paula Hilman:

The advertisements relating the competitions went out on 30 April 2024. We had a meeting about this yesterday in order to see how matters are progressing. We are hearing that there is good interest. We have reduced the timeframes for this. We have to give a period to allow people to apply and fill in the necessary forms, etc. Our aim is to have all the interviews completed by June or July, certainly before the holiday period, because we know that things can start to slow down in August. We aim to do that. When the lists are available, it will up to the divisional officers at that point. Competitions are being overseen nationally by ourselves in the National Roads Policing Bureau and held regionally. They relate to sergeant and garda rank. Officers will be appointed on a divisional basis. The divisional officers will have the list of candidates who have met the standard and passed the interview process. It will be for them to appoint officers in line with the vacancies they have. Each division knows the vacancies it has. As the Commissioner said, there was no reduction. We did not have the overall headcount to put people in. The vacancies exist. As people are allocated to those divisions from the college and via internal transfers, that will allow officers to be appointed to roads policing. That is how it will work. We should start seeing some appointments immediately and then appointments will continue to be made throughout the year. It will be dependent on recruitment and on people coming in to allow those who have been successful in the competition for roads policing to be appointed. The panel relating to the competition will remain valid for two years. Were we not to have enough, we will be agile and advertise again. We will see how many apply. Hopefully, we should get enough applicants to fill our vacancies.