Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The purpose of organising a Garda recruitment competition at this time is to establish a panel of approved candidates who will be available to meet future Garda recruitment needs. I was happy to obtain the approval of my colleague the Minister for Finance for this competition which was launched on 4 June 2010. This forward planning is necessary given the lead time involved in establishing such a panel and in training recruits to the point of attestation. Trainees will be subsequently taken into the college as needed to ensure Garda strength is maintained at an approved level.

Maintaining the operational strength of the Garda Síochána at the approved level is my absolute priority and I am pleased we are making the necessary preparations to ensure this can be achieved into the future. I should point out that as of the end of May 2010 the Garda strength stood at 14,571, with an additional 116 students in training and 555 Garda reservists available to the Commissioner. This is higher than at the same date in 2009 when the Garda strength was 14,426. There are also currently more than 2,100 civilian personnel who provide secretarial, technical, administrative, specialist and expert support services to the Garda Síochána.

See this speech in context