Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. As regards the statistics he provided, he said that 369 recruits were attested this year. I am conscious that the Minister of State is not at the Department of Justice. My understanding is that many of the gardaí who were attested this year were recruited last year. There can be little doubt that we need to get the numbers up in An Garda Síochána. The Minister of State made the point that approximately 11,000 people expressed interest and he stated that they should get themselves fully fit. My understanding is that, notwithstanding the interest, many of the applicants are not passing the fitness test. I am concerned about that. We may need to reconsider that fitness test. Is it too strenuous for those undertaking it? If a significant number of people are failing the fitness test, it should be reconsidered.

I am conscious that the Garda Commissioner is ultimately responsible for matters within An Garda Síochána and recruitment, but that will not happen unless there is Government action to ensure we recognise a problem that is coming down the tracks. We, as a Government, need to get more involved in actively encouraging the Commissioner to get involved in recruitment.

I welcome the amount of money the Government is making available to An Garda Síochána. I do not think the Government can be criticised for the fact that in the budget this year it has provided funding for 1,000 new gardaí. However, as I said, the numbers are not adding up in that regard. If one looks at the numbers attested last year, one will see it was not the case that the 800 gardaí for whom funding was provided in budget 2022 were attested. I am concerned that, notwithstanding the provision of a budget for 1,000 gardaí to be recruited next year, there will be difficulty in reaching that number.

We need to recognise the problem and ask the Commissioner to address it. Let us run a public advertisement recruitment campaign to get people into An Garda Síochána. It is a great career.

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