Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My party welcomes the fact that the Government has accepted that we need to bring the personnel of the Garda Síochána back up to 15,000, having said it could not be done. I have a concern that the target may not be reached. Some 700 trainees have gone through Templemore and a further 440 will do so this year but approximately 1,500 are eligible to retire and when one factors those numbers into the manpower level of the force at the moment, which is approximately 12,000, we will be a long time reaching the figure of 15,000. What detailed plans does the Minister have to increase recruitment and has she looked at stretching out the retirement age?

The second part of the question related to the review of Garda stations by the Policing Authority. Who will set the terms of reference for that? On page 98 of the programme for Government, it states, "As part of the review [of Garda stations by the independent Policing Authority] we will launch a pilot scheme to reopen six Garda stations". Can the Minister tell us which six Garda stations will be reopened and what criteria were used to make the decision? It was clearly a political decision within the programme for Government to reopen six stations. What were the criteria and who will set the terms of reference for the independent Policing Authority to review the rest of them?

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