Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Tóibín. Let me begin where he did, by remembering Ashling Murphy’s family. I have had the honour of meeting on a few occasions Ray, Kathleen, Amy, Cathal and Ryan. It is fair to say that Ashling Murphy’s murder stopped all of us in our tracks. She was a young woman out for a walk or run by a canal and was brutally murdered. We all think of her family and we are all pleased to see justice served. The family remains in our thoughts. We are very fortunate to have in this country a Minister for Justice who has prioritised domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. In the short time available, I will not be able to go through all the work she has done in this area; however, her establishment of a new agency to lead and co-ordinate the implementation of our zero-tolerance strategy will in time be seen as very significant, along with significant legislative reform to ensure we genuinely take a zero-tolerance approach to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

Garda recruitment is an absolute priority for the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Government. The Government is very much committed to building stronger safer communities and strengthening Garda numbers. The Deputy, I and everybody else knows that recruitment in the Garda College was seriously disrupted by the Covid pandemic. That is not just blaming Covid; it is a statement of fact. The college had to close, not once but twice, and the pipeline of gardaí that would have come through at the time was seriously disrupted. Since then, we have seen a very high level of interest in our recruitment campaigns. The Minister has been very clear that nothing is off the table when it comes to ways to improve recruitment and retention, including looking at the retirement age, her important decision to increase the entry age - I always thought it was slightly offensive that someone could not become a garda beyond the age of 35 - and considering other issues as well. As of last month, there were about 14,000 Garda members across the country. This represents an increase of approximately 9% since 2015, when there were only 12,860 Garda members.

The Deputy is right to highlight the issue of garda safety. I am very pleased that the Houses will be passing legislation to ensure that members of An Garda Síochána can have bodycams. It seems bizarre that the only person at a protest - or worse - who does not have a camera at the moment is often a member of An Garda Síochána. They get cameras pointed in their faces, but they do not have cameras themselves. That reforming legislation by the Minister will be very significant and helpful.

I am pleased that we are seeing garda recruitment ramp up again. Numbers in Templemore are increasing, with attestations - graduations effectively - taking place every three months. We saw 135 new trainees enter the college in February, 154 in May, 174 in July and a further 177 entered the college last month. That was the largest increase since the advent of Covid. This means that nearly 500 trainees are now in the system and another class is due to start in Templemore in December. A total of 237 new gardaí have attested. We are on track to have between 700 and 800 new recruits in the college in 2023, with a funded recruitment programme for 2024.

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