Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thought that I had switched it off.

As the Deputy is aware, I have secured the approval of my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, for a recruitment competition for the Garda Síochána. There are a number of procedural issues that need to be finalised prior to the formal commencement of that competition and these are expected to conclude in the coming weeks.

The competition will be run by the Public Appointments Service, PAS, on behalf of the Garda Commissioner. An announcement will be issued as soon as recruitment starts, both on its website and directly to those who have registered an expression of interest in joining the Garda Síochána. Persons who would like to join An Garda Síochána and have not yet registered their interest in doing so may sign up on the PAS website, www.publicjobs.ie.

The first students are expected to enter the Garda College in Templemore, County Tipperary, in mid-2014. These recruits will complete the new Garda training programme before they are attested as sworn gardaí and assigned to stations to complete their training. The number of recruits to be drawn down from this new competition will be determined taking a number of factors into account, including the current and projected strength of the force, the projected retirement rate and, of course, the availability of resources.

I believe it is important for an organisation such as the Garda Síochána, particularly given the physical demands of policing, to have some regular intakes of new recruits even on a modest scale, and I was therefore very pleased to obtain the sanction of my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, for this recruitment competition.

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