Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Let us consider the overall numbers, including Garda recruits in general. We have 14,600 Garda members at the moment and 700 recruits for the front line. That takes into account the approximately 300 retirements that take place yearly.

We have gone from a situation since 2018 where 18% of the overall Garda workforce are now civilian staff. We have seen a significant increase in the number of gardaí on front-line duties. We have seen progress in recent times. The most up-to-date figure we have is that 500 posts have been filled in 2019. That is 500 divisional gardaí who are out working now. They are not working in offices or dealing with human resources, information and communications technology, business or such issues. I do not have the full figures for this year yet but the intention is that we would have a similar figure again for this year.