Mr. Drew Harris:

I will deal with the second part of the question first. To join An Garda Síochána, you must be a national of the European Union, the EEA, the UK or the Swiss Confederation, or, under the International Protection Act, have been nominated as a refugee or a family member of such a person or a person granted subsidiary protection. Even the latter comes with a qualification in that one must have one year’s continuous residence in the State and, during the eight years immediately preceding it, have had a residence in the State amounting to four years. Any individual who meets that requirement must also meet the education, health, physical competence and vetting requirements. The confusion, to which I may have added, is that somebody seeking asylum is not yet regarded under the International Protection Act as either a refugee or a person who has been granted subsidiary protection. There is a process before an individual can attain that status. There is an opportunity. We do see various nationalities, and over the past two years, we have seen nationalities other than Irish join An Garda Síochána. They are very welcome and meet all the criteria. They have met the requirements of the competition to join.

On the individual case the Deputy raised with me, it is regrettable if it happened. I have not heard about it before. It is regrettable but there is another competition opening in the autumn and I would encourage the individual to apply again. Our processes are a good deal faster and slicker and I hope the individual can work through the system as quickly as possible.