Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

At 30 November 2009, there were 484 attested reserve gardaí and there are currently 171 reserve trainees. Details of the stations to which the reserve members were assigned are set out in the following table. The agreed programme for Government has set a target strength for the reserve at 10% of the full-time strength of the force. As the Garda Reserve depends on volunteers who undertake their training and other duties during their free time, it is difficult to predict how many people will commence training in any particular period. However, I assure the House that the Garda Commissioner is continuing to make every effort to reach the recruitment target. In that context, I point out that the moratorium on recruitment and appointments in the public service does not apply to the Garda Reserve, as members are volunteers and do not draw a salary.

Recruitment is ongoing and the Public Appointments Service, PAS, has received more than 1,700 expressions of interest to join the reserve in 2009. The PAS hold interviews on a rolling basis at a range of locations around the country. The ongoing public information campaign to recruit members to the Garda Reserve includes indoor and outdoor awareness raising campaigns and radio promotional interviews, nationally and locally.

The Government is strongly committed to development of the reserve. It has been a singularly successful initiative and I am confident that it will continue to flourish into the future.

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