Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. It is an important question. We all want to see more gardaí on our streets and dealing with different issues. That commitment is there. The budget this year was unprecedented, with €2.14 billion being allocated to the Garda. This will fund up to 1,000 new recruits next year and 400 additional Garda staff. In the year just gone, funding was allocated for 800 Garda staff. We will not be able to reach that full target because there have been some challenges in respect of Covid-19 at the Garda College in Templemore. We were simply not able to get the numbers into the training college at the beginning of the year. I am confident that on the basis of the new recruitment campaign, which saw 11,000 people put themselves forward to become members of the Garda, the first round of recruits will go into Templemore on 28 November 2022. That will allow us to get into a system whereby every 11 or 12 weeks, there will be 200 recruits in Templemore. That will allow us to reach the target of 1,000, as well as the 400 Garda staff positions that have been funded for next year.

There were challenges around Covid-19 this year. When we came to end of the previous recruitment campaign, a number of people had gone into different careers. A number of people had decided to change path during the pandemic. Some people were unable to pass the fitness test. That problem is arising. Many of us might remember having to do the bleep test and other fitness tests in physical education class in school. It is important that members of the Garda have a certain level of fitness. There are challenges arising and we need to ensure we are on top of them. I meet with the Garda Commissioner about this matter quite regularly. I probably speak to him every couple of weeks, if not every week, specifically about the recruitment campaign and how things are going with the Public Appointments Service, which is an important part of the process. The service must conduct the interviews and put the numbers forward before the students go into the college. It is a lengthier process than we would like but I am confident, given that we now have a date of 28 November for the first of the new recruits from the 11,000 who applied for this campaign, that we will start a system that will see rolling numbers passing through Templemore and that we will not be interrupted by Covid-19 and the other challenges we have faced in the past year.

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