Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy McEntee, I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising this issue. While recruitment to An Garda Síochána has faced challenges in recent times, this has been due in the main to public health restrictions in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. The effect of the restrictions has been a slower than anticipated flow of new entrants into the Garda College.

While the Minister for Justice has no direct role in the recruitment of Garda members, she and the Government are committed to building stronger, safer communities and to continually supporting and strengthening An Garda Síochána. As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible by law for management and administration of Garda business, which includes the recruitment and training of Garda members and staff.

The Minister, Deputy McEntee, engages regularly with the Commissioner and senior Garda management on the issue of recruitment and wants to ensure every support is in place to deliver on Garda recruitment.

I assure the House that the Government is committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs, with record funding of more than €2.14 billion allocated to the Garda Vote in budget 2023. This includes provision for the recruitment of up to 1,000 additional Garda members and 400 Garda staff in 2023 and will enable sustained ongoing recruitment of Garda members and staff. I am advised that 369 new gardaí have been attested so far this year. A further intake will enter the college this month, with all of those trainees coming from the 2022 recruitment campaign. Those who commence training later this year will attest in summer 2023. In total, more than 460 trainees will have graduated from the Garda College or started their training in 2022.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that there are currently 14,283 Garda members across the country, representing an increase of almost 12% since 2015, when there were 12,816 Garda members. The substantial increase in the number of Garda staff has allowed for more than 870 Garda members to be redeployed to front-line duties where their policing experience and training is of the greatest use to the service and the community.

The Minister was pleased that, in response to the recruitment competition held earlier this year, more than 11,000 people indicated an interest in joining An Garda Síochána, more than double the level of interest in the previous campaign, in 2019. This shows there is still enormous interest in policing as a profession in Ireland. I encourage all those called from the current competition not to defer but, rather, to make sure they are fully fit and ready to take up the opportunity.

I have been advised by the Garda Commissioner that a new Garda recruitment campaign will be launched in early 2023 and this will ensure a steady flow of recruits into the Garda College, with 200 new recruits planned to enter Templemore every three months, starting from January.

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