James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy there was massive interest in joining the Garda during the last recruitment campaign. There were more than 11,000 initial responses and we have had no difficulty in finding people who want to become members of the Garda. There is no issue in respect of the attractiveness of the Garda or people seeking to become gardaí. That is reflective of the high esteem in which the Garda is held in this country. There was a challenge in respect of training the applicants who came forward due to the pandemic. We are now past that situation and are accelerating the training of the prospective gardaí we have recruited. It is expected that 1,000 prospective gardaí will enter training this year. We will be starting a new recruitment campaign this year and I expect a similarly positive response. The clear message is that during the most recent recruitment campaign, there was positive and significant interest in joining the Garda. There is no difficulty in that respect.

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